Pierre Desrochers

GGR 387 – Food and Globalization – Lectures (1 to 8)

Period: Fall 2024
Instructor: Pierre Desrochers Office: Davis Building, DV3273
Lectures: Tuesday, 5-7PM Lecture room: IB 110 (in person)
Phone: (905) 828-5206 E-mail: pierre.desrochers@utoronto.ca

Lecture 1 (September 3 ): Introduction
Lecture 2 (September 10 ): Historical Perspective I
Lecture 3 (September 17): Historical Perspective II
Lecture 4 (September 24): Commodities I (Deadline for written assignment 1)
Lecture 5 (October 1): Commodities II
Lecture 6 (October 8): Commodities III
Lecture 7 (October 15): Commodities IV
Lecture 8 (October 22): Commodities V
(October 29): Reading week, no class
Lecture 9 (November 5): Agricultural Inputs, Technologies and Food Additives I
Lecture 10 (November 12): Agricultural Inputs, Technologies and Food Additives II
Lecture 11 (November 19): Policy Controversies I
Lecture 12 (November 26): Policy Controversies II (Deadline for written assignments 2 and 3)

SUGGESTED VIDEOs

The Meatrix

IFPRI Millions Fed – Proven Solutions

BBC 4. 2010. “Hans Rosling’s 200 Countries, 200 Years, 4 Minutes – The Joy of Stats.” (November 26).

Worldwrite. 2006. “I’m a Subsistence Farmer get me out of Here!” 

Breakthrough Institute. 2016. “Precision Agriculture: Visualizing Agricultural Innovation.”

College Humor. 2018, “Buy Food Ethically, Unless It’s Too Hard.”

RECOMMENDED READINGS

Note: Technically, these readings are not mandatory, but I strongly encourage you to look them up if you have no prior background in food production and food policy analysis.

• Overviews
Our World in Data – Topic: Food and Agriculture (Browse, the point here is to familiarize yourself with this website).

Smil, Vaclav. 2019. “Good Eats.” Inference 5 (1).

von Braun, Joachim et al. 2021. “Food Systems: seven priorities to end hunger and protect the planet.” Nature (August 30).

Lincicome, Scott and Sophia Bagley. 2023.  Food Globalization Puts the World on Your Plate. Cato Institute (November 7).

• Critics
People’s Food Policy Project. 2011. Resetting the Table: A People’s Food Policy for Canada (Executive Summary).

Fairbank, Viviane. 2020. “Food for Thought. Eight billion mouths and counting.” Literary Review of Canada (May).

• Defenders of modern agriculture and agri-business
Laudan, Rachel. 2015. “A Plea for Culinary Modernism.” Jacobin (May).

Laudan, Rachel. 2016. “In Praise of Artificial Food.” Aeon (January 28).

Bailey, Ron. 2020. “It’s Possible To Cut Cropland Use in Half and Produce the Same Amount of Food, Says New Study.” Reason (April 17).

Nordhaus, Ted and Alex Smith. 2021. “The Problem With Alice Waters and the “Slow Food” Movement.” Jacobin (December 3).

Sang, Helen and Daniel Pearsall. 2024. “Why we must stand up for intensive farming.Science for Sustainable Agriculture. (August).

SUGGESTED READINGS

• COVID-19
Upton, William. 2020. “Make America Autarkic Again.” American Mind (March 13).

Lusk, Jayson. 2020. “Ruminations on Solutions to the COVID-Related Food Disruptions.” Jayson Lusk Blog (May 12).

Wright, Robert E. 2020. “How to Stop Food Shortages.” AIER (May 6).

Sorman, Guy. 2020. “The Modern Food Miracle. Science and commerce feed the world.” City Journal (July 10).

Glauber, Joseph et al. 2020. “COVID-19: Trade restrictions are worst possible response to safeguard food security.” IFPRI Blog (March 27).

Bedford, Christopher. 2020. “How And Why America’s Food System Is Cracking.” The Federalist (May 14).

Lincicome, Scott. 2021. “America’s Ports Problem Is Decades in the Making. Systemic problems and bad policy have exacerbated pandemic‐​related shipping delays.Cato Institute Commentary (September 22).

Roca, Maria. 2020. “Viewpoint: COVID-19 food shortages-Why the pandemic is a warning to embrace agricultural technology.” Genetic Literacy Project (May 4).

Lusk, Jayson and Glynn Tonsor. 2020. “America’s Indispensable Industry: Long-term strategies are needed to keep the nation’s meatpacking plants open and its food supply chain moving.” City Journal (May 5).

• COVID-19 and the Food Supply Chain
Boudreaux, Donald J. 2020. “The Economy Is Not a Series of Supply Chains.” AIER (April 13).

Lusk, Jayson. 2020. “Time for Food Resilience.” City Journal (August 7).

• Overviews
Short contributions

– “How to Feed a Hungry World.” Nature 466 : 531-532 (July 29, 2010).

Cowen, Tyler. 2012. “World Hunger: The Problem Left Behind.” The New York Times (September 15).

Sharp, Philip A. and Alan Leshner. 2016. “We Need a New Green Revolution.” New York Times (January 4).

Timmer, Peter C. “A World without Agriculture? The Historical Paradox of Agricultural Development.” AEI Outlook May 2009.

– “2050: A third more mouths to feed.” FAO, September 23, 2009.

Substantial References
World Resources Institute. 2019. World Resources Report: Creating a Sustainable Food Future – A Menu of Solutions to Feed Nearly 10 Billion People by 2050. WRI, UNEP, UNDP, CIRAD and INRA.

Coclanis, Peter A. 2019. “Field Notes: Agricultural History’s New Plot.” The Journal of Interdisciplinary History 50 (2): 187–212.

FAO. 2019. The State of Food Insecurity and Nutrition in the World (Scroll down).

Starling, Shane. 2014. “World’s Most Obese Nation? Kuwait (and the next four are Middle Eastern).” Food Navigator.com (November 3). 

Charlebois, Sylvain et al. 2018. Canada’s Food Price Report 2018. Dalhousie University and University of Guelph (Executive Summary). 

Smil, Vaclav. 2016. “Harvesting the Biosphere.” The World Financial Review (January – February): 46-49. 

Beddington, John. 2010. “Global Food and Farming Futures.” Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B (Biological Sciences) 365 (1554) (September): 2767.

Godfray, H. Charles J. 2010. “Introduction: The Future of the Global Food System.” Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B (Biological Sciences) 365 (1554) (September): 2769-2777.

Kearney, John. 2010. “Food Consumption Trends and Drivers.” Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B (Biological Sciences) 365 (1554) (September): 2793-2807.

Johnson, D. Gale. 2000, “Population, Food, and Knowledge,” American Economic Review 90, 2000, p. 1-14.

Wimberley, Ronald C. et al. 2003. Food from Our Changing World: The Globalization of Food and How Americans Feel About It, North Carolina State University.

Roser, Max and Hannah Ritchie. “Food Supply.” Our World in Data.

• Critics
Rausser, Gordon, David Zilberman, and Gabriel Kahn. 2015. “An Alternative Paradigm for Food Production, Distribution, and Consumption: A Noneconomist’s Perspective.” Annual Review of Resource Economics 7: 309-331. 

Poux, Xavier and Pierre-Marie-Aubert. 2018. An Agroecological Europe in 2050: multifunctional agriculture for healthy eating Findings from the Ten Years For Agroecology (TYFA) modelling exercise. IDDRI Study #9.

Clapp, Jennifer et al. 2021. An IPCC for Food? How the UN Food Systems Summit is being used to advance a problematic new science-policy agenda. IPES FOOD (July).

Roberts, Paul. 2009. “Spoiled: Organic and Local is so 2008.” Mother Jones (February).

Pollan, Michael. 2008. “Farmer in Chief.” New York Times Magazine (October 9).

Bittman, Mark, Michael Pollan, Ricardo Salvador and Olivier De Schutter. 2014. “How a National Food Policy could save Millions of American Lives.” Washington Post (November 7).

RFI. 2024. “Why reviving old crops is key to saving Africa’s degraded soils.” RFI (February 2).

• Defenders of modern agriculture and agri-business
Zimet, Saul. 2024. “The Counter-​Agricultural Revolution.” Human Progress (March 15).

Caccamo, Mario. 2024. “Our food system is not broken!Science for Sustainable Agriculture (May)​.

Backhouse, Harry. 2023. “Eight Centuries of Increasing Food Abundance in England: Baking.” Human Progress (July 27).

Harris, Rob. 2007. “Let’s Ditch this ‘Nostalgia for Mud’.” Spiked, 4 December.

Hurst, Blake. 2009. “The Omnivore’s Delusion: Against the Agri-Intellectuals.” The American, July 30.

Paarlberg, Robert. 2010 “Attention Whole Food Shoppers.” Foreign Policy (May-June).

Smith, Kyle. 2013. “The Greatest Food in Human History.” New York Post (July 29).

Tucker, Jeffrey. 2014. “Life without the McDouble.” (August 5).

Stier, Jeff and Henry I. Miller. 2013. “How Much of Food Activism Is Nonsense?Regulation (Summer): 8-10.

Driessen, Paul. 2020. “Keeping Africa On the Brink of Starvation.” Townhall.com (February 22).

Hurst, Blake. 2015. “The End of Farming?The American (April 3).

Finn, S. Margot. 2019. “Food Injustice: What the Food Movement Misses About Poverty and Inequality.” Breakthrough Journal 11 (Summer) (July 15).

DeGregori, Thomas R. 2009. “The Green Washing of the Green Ideological Agenda: In Defense of Modern Agriculture, Technology and Life.” 

Nordhaus, Ted and Dan Blaustein-Rejto. 2021. “Big Agriculture Is Best. The United States’ industrialized food system moved millions of people out of poverty and is better for the environment, too.” Foreign Policy (April 18).

Paarlberg, Robert. 2021. “Straight Talk About Modern Farms and Rural “Decline,” Pt. 1.” Human Progress (February 25).

Human Progress Podcast. 2021. “Rachel Laudan explains how food, and the way we eat it, has changed over time.” The Human Progress Podcast Ep. 10 (Transcript).

Hodgson, Fergus. 2018. “Walmart a Boon for the Hungry.” AIER (July 2).

Ozersky, Josh. 2011. “In Defense of Industrial Food. It’s almost impossible to extricate the way we eat from the means of mass production.Time (October 26).

Cunningham, Brent. 2011. “Pastoral Romance.” Lapham’s Quarterly (Summer).

Kotkin, Joel. 2010. “America’s Agricultural Angst.” Forbes (January 19)

Cowen, Tyler. 2006. “Can You Really Save the Planet at the Dinner Table? – An economist’s critique of The Omnivore’s Dilemma.” Slate.com, November 1st.

Hurst, Blake. 2021. “A Perennial Genius and Me.” Substack (October 31).

Lusk, Jayson. 2016. “Why Industrial Farms Are Good for the Environment.” New York Times (September 23). 

Tupy, Marian L. 2020. “The Battle to Feed All of Humanity Is Over. Humanity Has Won.” Quillette (February 11).

Ashbach, Jonathan. 2022. “A Limited Defense of Factory Farming. The Ethics and Politics of Consuming Intensively Raised Animals.” The Independent Review 26 (4): 601–621.

Bailey, Ron. 2020. “Is Farm-Free Food the Future? The end of agriculture draws nigh.” Reason (January 16).

SUGGESTED LINKS

Eames-Sheavly, Marcia. Discovering the Food System: An experiential learning program for young and inquiring minds. Cornell University.

World Bank. 2007. World Development Report 2008: Agriculture and Development, Policy Briefs.
– Growth
– Poverty Reduction
– Climate Change
– Gender
– The ‘Three Worlds’ of Agriculture Briefs

Policy Options. April 2017.

Foodspan (Johns Hopkins University).

AUDIOS
Farmers: What do you think of Pollan’s Ideas?Talk of the Nation (National Public Radio), Oct. 8, 2009.

VIDEOS
IFPRI – Millions Fed, Proven Solutions

Pollan and Hurst Debate the Future of AgricultureMarket to Market (Iowa Public Television), July 16, 2010.

The Meatrix

Gapminder. Hans Rosling on 200 countries, 200 years, 4 minutes

Mike Rowe Works on Farming, Fishing, Food

REQUIRED VIDEOs

LECTURE 2

Ancient Farmers of the AmazonEvolution Library (PBS), 2001 (video).

Dr. Jane Goodall & the Jane Goodall Institute USA. Undated. Chimpanzee Tool Use.

Duet of a Sumerian Drinking Song (Hymn to the Beer Goddess) (Background: Main, Douglas. 2014. “What Did Ancient Babylonian Songs Sound Like? Something Like This.” Newsweek (December 14).

LECTURE 3

General Electric. Date Unknown. General Electric Effects on Farm Life – 1930s Dairy Farms Cows Milk Tractors Behind the Scenes

FreeThink. 2017. “We’re All Gonna Starve!

Free To Choose Network | Johan Norberg’s New and Improved – Borlaug (October 26).

REQUIRED READINGS

LECTURE 2

• Insect Agriculture
Herding Aphids: How ‘Farmer’ Ants Keep Control Of Their Food.” Science Daily, October 11, 2007.

Termites Create Sustainable Monoculture Fungus Farming.” Science Daily, Nov. 22, 2009.

• Fire, Tools and Early Diets
Alex, Bridget. 2023. “Worldwide survey kills the myth of ‘Man the Hunter’” Science (June 28).

Jones, Steve. 2009. “Catching Fire: How Cooking Made Us Human by Richard Wrangham.” The Guardian, October 17.

Forbes, Peter. 2010. “Review of The Artificial Ape: How Technology Changed the Course of Human Evolution by Timothy Taylor.” The Guardian, September 4.

Gibbons, Ann. 2019. “Ancient Switch to Soft Food Gave Us an Overbite-and the ability to pronounce ‘f’s and ‘v’s.” Science (March 14). 

Kwon, Diana. 2022. “Our ancestors ate a Paleo diet. It had carbs. There is no one prehistoric meal plan. A modern hunter-gatherer group known as the Hadza has taught researchers surprising things about the highly variable menu consumed by humans past.” Knowable Magazine (September 28).

• Early Agriculture
(Note: This issue is addressed in much more detail in my course GGR329: Environment and the Roots of Globalization)

Prakash, C. S. 2001. “The Genetically Modified Crop Debate in the Context of Agricultural Evolution.” Plant Physiology 126 (1): 8-15.

Wallace, Eric J. 2019. “The Moroccan Food Forest That Inspired an Agricultural Revolution. These ancient forest gardens may be more relevant than ever.” Atlas Obscura (April 1).

• Transition towards the Modern Era
Craig, Lee. A. 2009. “Creating Abundance: Biological Innovation and American Agricultural Development.” (Review of Alan L. Olmstead and Paul W. Rhode, Creating Abundance: Biological Innovation and American Agricultural Development. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2008) EH.Net Book Reviews. 

White, William J. 2008 “Economic History of Tractors in the United States.” Eh.Net Encyclopedia of Economic and Business History.

Moore, Sam. 2019. “International Harvester’s Red Baby Truck.” Farm Collector (July 9).

Johns Hopkins Center for a Liveable Future. Undated. “Food System Primer – Industrialization of Agriculture.”

LECTURE 3

• Modern Agriculture and the Green Revolution
– Big Picture
Goklany, Indur M. 2001. “The Pros and Cons of Modern Farming.” PERC Reports. March: 12-14.

Paarlberg, Robert. 2021 “Straight Talk About Modern Farms and Rural “Decline,” Pt. 1” Human Progress (February 25).

Paarlberg, Robert. 2021. “Straight Talk About Modern Farms and Rural “Decline,” Pt. 2” Human Progress (March 8).

Kline, Jesse. 2021. “The Capitalist Manifesto: The miracles that allowed us to feed the world (and those who would have us return to a time of famine).” Financial Post (December 23).

– Specific Issues
Tupy, Marian. 2024. “The Effect of Inflation on US Food Prices: 2019–2024.” Human Progress (August 28, 2024).

Kunkel, Phillip L., Jeffrey A. Peterson, Jessica A. Mitchell. 2009. “Agricultural Production Contracts.” University of Minnesota Agricultural Extension Service.

– Green Revolution
Perkins, John. 2010. “Green Revolution” in Cutler J. Cleveland (ed.) Encyclopedia of the Earth. National Council for Science and the Environment.

Miller, Henry I. 2012. “The Father of the Green Revolution.” Defining Ideas (February 17).

Bloch, Sam. 2020. “Norman Borlaug is Hailed for “Feeding the World.” So why is there still so much hunger?The Counter (April 21).

Cremer, Justin. 2020. “Norman Borlaug Saved Millions of Lives, Would his Critics Prefer he Hadn’t?Cornell Alliance for Science (April 24).

Note: You do not need to cover the following readings and websites in your short written assignment, but you should familiarize yourself with these resources.

Our World in Data

CANADA
Canadian Encyclopedia on Agriculture
History of agriculture
Agriculture and food
Agriculture and food policy
Fisheries
Aquaculture

Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada. 2022. Overview of Canada’s agriculture and agri-food sector. (Read the abstract and the highlights.)

SUGGESTED READINGS

• General
Philipps, Lynne. 2006. “Food and Globalization.” Annual Review of Anthropology 35: 37-57.

von Braun, Joachim and Eugenio Díaz-Bonilla. 2008. Globalization of Food and Agriculture and the Poor. Oxford University Press and International Food Policy Research Institute, Chapter 1: Globalization of Agriculture and Food, Causes, Consequences, and Policy Implications.

Malden C. Nesheim, Malden, C., Maria Oria, and Peggy Tsai Yih. Authors: Committee on a Framework for Assessing the Health, Environmental, and Social Effects of the Food System; Food and Nutrition Board; Board on Agriculture and Natural Resources; Institute of Medicine; National Research Council. 2015. A Framework for Assessing Effects of the Food System. Washington (DC): National Academies Press. 

• Insect Agriculture
Bernhard Stadler and Anthony F.G. Dixon. 2006. “Ecology and Evolution of Aphid-Ant Interactions.” Annual Review of Ecology, Evolution, and Systematics 36: 345-372.

Mueller, Ulrich G and Christian Rabeling. 2008. “A breakthrough innovation in animal evolution.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 105 (14): 5287-8.

• Cannibalism
Peter Foges. 2011. “What Does It Taste Like?Lapham’s Quarterly (Summer).

• Cooking and Early Agriculture
Friedman, Matti. 2023. “When Did Humans Start Settling Down?Smithsonian Magazine (July / August).

Gibbons, Ann. 2021. “Neanderthals carb loaded, helping grow their big brains. DNA from mouth bacteria suggest human ancestors ate diets rich in starchy plants by 600,000 years ago.” Science (May 10).

The American Association for the Advancement of Science – What’s cooking?The Economist, February 17, 2009.

Mason, Daniel. 2011. “Balanced Diets.” Lapham’s Quarterly (Summer).

Nathan Nunn and Nancy Qian. 2010. “The Columbian Exchange: A History of Diseases, Food and Ideas.” Journal of Economic Perspectives 24 (2): 163-188.

Pringle, Heather. 1998. “Reading the Signs of Ancient Animal Domestication.” Science 282 (5393): 1448.

Pringle, Heather. 1998. “The Slow Birth of Agriculture.” Science 282 (5393): 1446.

Smith, Bruce D. 2006. “Eastern North America as an Independent Center of Plant Domestication.” Proceedings of the National Academy of the Sciences of the United States 103 (33): 12223-12228.

Chapter 7: Biodiversity and the Technology of Cooking: Uncultivated foods and the technology of cooking / Chapter 8: Uncultivated Greens – the Nutritional Values / Chapter 9. Uncultivated foods and daily diets in Farhad Mazhar, Daniel Buckles, P.V. Satheesh, and Farida Akhter. Food Sovereignty and Uncultivated Biodiversity in South Asia: Essays on the Poverty of Food Policy and the Wealth of the Social Landscape. Academic Foundation/IDRC International Development Research Centre, 2007.

Ferguson, Donna. 2021. “How early humans’ quest for food stoked the flames of evolution.The Guardian (March 7).

Thadeusz, Frank. 2009. “Alcohol’s Neolithic Origins: Brewing Up a Civilization.” Spiegel Online, December 24.

University of Sheffield. “Why did hunter-gatherers first begin farming?” Phys.org (May 16). 

McHugo, Gilles P., Michael J. Dover and David E. MacHugh. 2019. “Unlocking the Origins and Biology of Domestic Animals Using Ancient DNA and Paleogenomics.” BMC Biology volume 17, Article 98.

Barker, Graeme. 2023. “Is farming the root of civilisation? Humans discovered agriculture far earlier than previously thought; so why did they give up on it?” Engelsberg Ideas (March 6) (Originally published in 2013).

Geddes, Linda. 2022. “Oldest cooked leftovers ever found suggest Neanderthals were foodies. Pancake/flatbread with a ‘nutty’ taste is first evidence of complex cooking and food culture.” The Guardian (November 23).

Loehrlein, Marietta. 2010. “Horticulture.” In Cutler J. Cleveland (ed.) Encyclopedia of the Earth.

• Transition towards the Modern Era
Adams, Edward Francis and Louis Adelbert Clinton. 1899. The Modern Farmer in his Business Relations: A Study of Some of the Principles underlying the Art of Profitable Farming and Marketing, and of the Interests of Farmers as Affected by Modern Social and Economic Conditions and Forces. San Francisco: N.J. Stone Company, pp. 11-17.

Crowley, Terry. 2004. ‘[Victorian] Agriculture‘ and ‘Rural Labourers in the Victorian Era‘ in James Eli Adams, Tom Pendergast and Sara Pendergast (eds). The Encyclopedia of the Victorian Era. 4 vols. Grolier Academic Press.

Eh.Net Encyclopedia of Economic and Business History
– Stead, David. 2004. “Agricultural Tenures and Tithes.”
– Stewart, James I. 2008. “The Economics of American Farm Unrest, 1865-1900.”
– Law, Marc T. 2004 “History of Food and Drug Regulation in the United States.”

Energypedia. “Energy within Food and Agricultural Value Chains.” 

Ades, Gary, Craig W. Henry, and Faye Feldstein. (2011/2012). “The Food Safety Challenge of the Global Food Supply Chain.” Food Safety Magazine (December/January). 

• Green Revolution (History)
– General
Science Direct – Green Revolution

Wikipedia – Green Revolution

Pingali, Prabhu L. 2012. “Green Revolution: Impacts, Limits, and the Path Ahead.” PNAS 109 (31) 12302-12308. 

Fueling the Green Revolution.” U.S. Department of Agriculture & Agricultural Research Service, October 10, 2003.

Hazell, Peter B. R. 2002. Green Revolution: Curse or blessing? IFPRI.

Borlaug, Norman E. 1970. “The Green Revolution, Peace, and Humanity.” Nobel Lecture, December 11.

– Norman Borlaug
by Norman Borlaug
Borlaug, Norman E. 2002. “Feeding a World of 10 Billion People: Our 21st Century Challenge.” Inaugural lecture, Borlaug Lecture Series, Iowa State University, October 15.

Borlaug, Norman. 2000. “Ending World Hunger. The Promise of Biotechnology and the Threat of Antiscience Zealotry“. Plant Physiology 124: 487–90.

about Norman Borlaug
Norman Borlaug” Wikipedia 

Presidential Medal of Freedom Recipient Norman Borlaug.” Medal of Freedom.com.

Zeyen, Richard. “Yaqui Valley Farmers Provide Eternal Resting Place for Their Friend and Our Colleague, Norman Borlaug.”

Zeyen, Richard, Carol Ishimaru, Marty Dickman & Christine Richardson. “Norman Borlaug: Plant Pathologist/Humanitarian.”

Conko, Greg. 2009. “The Man Who Fed the World.” OpenMarket.org, September 13.

Hesser, Leon. 2006. The Man Who Fed the World. Durban House Publishing.

Miller, Henry I. 2006. “History and Culture: The Man Who Launched the Green Revolution.” Hoover Digest, no 4.

Murray H. Milford and ECA Runge. 2008. “Beachell and Borlaug: Two Giants of the American Society of Agronomy’s First Century.” Agronomy Journal 100 Supplement 3: S-1-S-3.

Phillips, Ronald L. 2013. Biographical Memoirs: Norman E. Borlaug 1914–2009. NAS Online.

– Critics
Brzezinski, Bartosz. 2022. “‘Time’s up’: Critics call for end to Western-funded food program in Africa.” Politico (September 13).

Mutsvangwa-Sammie, Eness Paidamoyo and Emmanuel Manzungu. 2021. “Unpacking the narrative of agricultural innovations as the sine qua non of sustainable rural livelihoods in Southern Africa.” Journal of Rural Studies 86” 181-188.

Vidal, John. 2014. “Norman Borlaug: humanitarian hero or menace to society?The Guardian (April 1).

Philpott, Tom. 2011. “Book Review: Why the “Green Revolution” Was Not So Green After All.” Mother Jones (August 5).

Leonard, Andrew. 2009. “The Paradox of Norman Borlaug.” Salon, Sept. 14.

Rosset, Peter, et al. 2000. “Lessons from the Green Revolution.” Food First – Institute for Food and Development Policy, March/April.

FAO. 1997. Women: The Key to Food Security. Chapter “Women and the Green Revolution.”

Shiva, Vandana. 1991. “The Green Revolution in the Punjab.” The Ecologist, Vol. 21, No. 2, March-April.

– Supporters
DeWitt, Jack. 2021. “The Green Revolution’s ripple effect on other crops.” AgDaily (September 8)

Orr, Alastair. 2012. “Why were So Many Social Scientists Wrong about the Green Revolution? Learning from Bangladesh.” Journal of Development Studies 48 (11): 1565–1586.

Hazell, Peter. 2009. “Think Again: The Green Revolution.” Foreign Policy (September 22).

DeGregori, Thomas R. 2004. “Green Myth vs the Green Revolution.” Butterflies and Wheels (February 5).

• Recent Controversies
Potrykus, Ingo. 2005. “Missing a Golden Rice opportunity.” The Economic Times, December 26.

Taverne, Dick. 2007. “The Real GM Food Scandal.” Prospect Magazine, November.

Ropeik, David. 2014. “Golden Rice Opponents Should Be Held Accountable for Health Problems Linked to Vitamin A Deficiency.” Scientific American (Blog) (March 15). 

Bailey, Ronald. 2019. “Life-Saving Golden Rice Finally Gets to Poor Farmers Despite Environmentalist Opposition.” Reason (March 7). 

• Modern Agriculture
Pooley, Gale. 2023. “‘Home Alone’ Grocery Shopping, but with Time Prices. Things can become more expensive and more affordable at the same time.” Human Progress (December 15).

Khoury, Colin K. et al. 2016 “Origins of food crops connect countries worldwide.” Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 283 (1832) (June 15) : 20160792.

Agricultural Mechanization.” Greatest Engineering Achievements of the 20th Century. National Academy of Engineering. 2000.

USDA Economics Research Service. 2010. Agricultural Productivity in the United States.

USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture. 2010. Family Farms Overview.

GB Tripletta and Warren A Dick. 2008. “No-Tillage Crop Production: A Revolution in Agriculture!Agronomy Journal 100 Supplement 3: S153-S165. (Abstract, Introduction, History).

Otsuka, Keijiro, Yuko Nakano, Kazushi Takahashi. 2016. “Contract Farming in Developed and Developing Countries.” Annual Review of Resource Economics 8: 353-376. 

Spielman, David J., and Rajul Pandya-Lorch. 2009. Highlights from Millions Fed: Proven Successes in Agricultural Development. IFPRI. (Full text and other documentation available at Millions Fed: Proven Successes in Agricultural Development IFPRI).

Dimitri, Carolyn, Anne Effland, & Neilson Conklin. “The 20th Century Transformation of U.S. Agriculture and Farm Policy.” U.S. Department of Agriculture, Electronic Information Bulletin Number 3, June 2005.

SUGGESTED LINKS

• General
Agropolis Museum – Food and Agricultures of the World

The Food Timeline

Animated Stats. 2021. The World’s Largest Food Exporters (By Value in U.S. Dollar).

• Transition to Modern Era
Wessels Living History Farm (York, Nebraska)

Farm Collector

• Green Revolution
A short video in which Norman Borlaug explains his work and the future of agricultural science.

The Norman Borlaug Heritage Foundation

Navdayana (critics)

American Experience. 2020. “The Man who Tried to Feed the World.”

REQUIRED VIDEOs

LECTURE 4

Wheat
– BBC Scotland. 2012. How to Grow a Planet – Episode 3: The Challenger (Göbekli Tepe and the domestication of wheat).
USDA. Norman Borlaug and the Green Revolution

University of Queensland. 2019. “Wheat Myth Debunked.” EurekAlert (June 17).

Corn (maize)
Iowa State University Research Foundation. 1991. The Hybrid Corn Miracle

Ryan, Cami. 2019. “Farmers Grow More with Less and That’s Good News for Everyone!” (July 27).

CIMMYT. 2016. “From Mexico to the World.” (May 20).

LECTURE 5

Rice
Riso Amaro (1949)
– Allow Golden Rice Now. 2013. “Allow Golden Rice Now!

Potatoes
– Hill Tribe TV. 2012. QV Foods: Growing Potatoes, from Field to Supermarket.

4000 Types of Potatoes in Peru – Peruvian Potatoes – Vicky The Gastronaut: Peru – Ep 06 – Mistura (Related videos here, here and here)

LECTURE 6

Soybean
-. 2007. Forgotten Genius: Percy Lavon Julian, NOVA (Video here from 1:24:19- 1:30:53)

Atlas Pro
Geography of Fruits I
Geography of Fruits II
Geography of Livestock
Geography of Spices

Fruits – General Overview
Atlas Pro. 2018. The Geography of Fruit

Tomato
Tomato sorter

Orchards
British Pathé – Home Drive For Food – Britain’s Harvest 1947 (1947).
WPSU. 2009. Apple Grafting.

Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History. 2019. “Exploring the Origins of the Apple.” Frontier Science News (August 28).

Grapes and Wine
Discovery News. “What Ancient Wine Tasted Like.” (June 11, 2013).

LECTURE 7

Entomophagy
– BBC Four. 2013. “Can Eating Insects Save the World.” (March 13).

The Economist. 2014. Why eating insects makes sense.

Livestock
British Pathé – Horse Meat Scandal (1948).

Honeybees
Wrong. 2017. What Happened to the Beepocalypse?

LECTURE 8

Fisheries
Breakthrough Institute. “Plenty of Fish on the Farm.”

Fortune. 2018. Made-in-China Caviar.

Recap
LindyBeige. 2011. “What is Wrong with this Picture?

Cotton
PYCO – Cottonseed: The Inside Story.

REQUIRED READINGS

Canadian Food Inspection Agency

LECTURE 4

• Commodity Markets
Kearns, K. S. 2013/2006. Commodity Trading. Canadian Encyclopedia.

• Plants
-Overview
Maxham, Amanda. 2018. “Who should we thank for all those wonderful fruits and vegetables? ‘Not Mother Nature’Genetic Literacy Project (October 2).

– Interactive Websites (browse)
CIAT (International Center for Tropical Agriculture). Where our Food Crops Come From.

Canada Food Inspection Agency. Varieties of Crop Kinds Registered in Canada.

GRAINS
About Good in Every Grain” (Grain Farmers of Ontario).

– Wheat
Mejia, Paul. 2018. “Found: 14,400-Year-Old Flatbread Remains That Predate Agriculture. The burned crumbs shed light on prehistoric hunter-gatherers’ diets.” Atlas Obscura (July 16).

Leech, Caleb. 2016. “Survival and Adaptation: Bonnefont’s Corne Field.” The Met (June 23).

Gary M. Paulsen and James P. Shroyer. 2008. “The Early History of Wheat Improvement in the Great Plains.” Agronomy Journal Vol. 100 No. Supplement_3, p. S-70-S-78.

Fedak, George. 2015. “Marquis Wheat.” Canadian Encyclopedia.

Fueling the Green Revolution.” U.S. Department of Agriculture & Agricultural Research Service, October 10, 2003.

– Corn
Wade, Lizzie. 2023. “Scientists thought they understood maize’s origins. They were missing something big. Genes from a long-lost wild relative may have sparked the invention of agriculture in the Americas.” Science (November 30).

Behrens, David. 2021. “Yields for Corn and Other Crops Show Steady Improvement.” Human Progress (February 2).

(Browse) National Corn Growers Association (USA. World of Corn).

International Institute of Tropical Agriculture. “Maize.”

LECTURE 5

– Rice
UCL Rice Project. “Debating the Origins of Rice.”

Aschaiek, Sharon. 2016. “UTM Professor Discovers New Origins for Farmed Rice.” UTM News (June 22).

Ewbank, Anne. 2018. “How Killer Rice Crippled Tokyo and the Japanese Navy.” Atlas Obscura (February 22).

May, Paul. 2017. “Vitamin B1 (Thiamine). Deficiency of this causes beriberi.” Molecule of the Month.

The World Food Prize
– 1996: Beachell and Khush
– 2004: Jones and Yuan Longping

Zagado, Ronan. 2022. “Vitamin-A enhanced Golden Rice seeds distributed for planting for the first time in the Philippines.” Philippine Rice Research Institute (May 4).

PULSES
Alliance Grain Traders, “History of Pulses.”

Ewbank, Anne. 2018. “Why Beans Were an Ancient Emblem of Death.” Atlas Obscura (May 25).

ROOT & TUBER CROPS
– Potato
Foodland Ontario (Food Facts)
Potatoes

Mann, Charles. 2011. “How the Potato Changed the World.” Smithsonian Magazine (November).

Jula, Megan. 2017. “The Ancient Andean Tradition of Eating Clay May Have Helped To Protect Health.” NPR.org (November 28).

Nunn, Nathan and Nancy Qian. 2009. “Potatoes, the fruit of the earth.” Vox (August 5).

Fine, Julia. 2019. “In India, the British Hyped Potatoes to Justify Colonialism.” Atlas Obscura (April 9).

– Sweet Potato
Fox, Alex. 2018. “Sweet Potato Migrated to Polynesia Thousands of Years before People Did. Vegetable’s travels deepen mystery about timing of first contact between people in Americas and the South Pacific.” Nature News (April 20).

ArgenPapa. 2018. “China: China and the Sweet Potato.” (November 13).

LECTURE 6

OILSEEDS
The Canadian Encyclopedia
Oilseed crops

– Soybeans
Cloutier, Jeannine. 2017. “VISTA on the Agri-food Industry and the Farm Community. Soy Story: A Short History of Glycine max in Canada.” Statistics Canada (March 3).

Coughlin, Alison. 2020. “Why Brazil Has Grown as a Soybean Producer.” Seeking Alpha (July 28).

USDA Foreign Agricultural Service. Soybean 2022World Production: 391,169 (1000 MT).

– Canola
The Canadian Encyclopedia
Canola

FRUITS & VEGETABLES
Katinka Weinberger and Thomas A. Lumpkin. 2005. Horticulture for Poverty Alleviation. The Unfunded Revolution. AVRDC (The World Vegetable Center) Working Paper #15 – Executive Summary.

Tonie Fitzgerald. 2005. Pollination of Fruit Trees. Washington State University – Spokane County Extension.

– Cucurbits
Thompson, Helen. 2015. “This Renaissance Painting of Fruit Holds a Modern-Day Science Lesson. Hint: it’s in the watermelon.” Smithsonian Magazine (August 6).

Foodland Ontario (Food Facts)
Greenhouse cucumbers

– Tomato
Smith, K. Annabelle. 2013. “Why the Tomato Was Feared in Europe for More Than 200 Years. How the fruit got a bad rap from the beginning.” Smithsonian Magazine (June 18).

– Apples
Atlas Obscura. “The Last Wild Apple Forests. Granny Smiths, Fujis, and Pink Ladies can all be traced back to Kazakhstan, where apples still grow wild.”

Flaccus, Gillian. 2020. “10 Pioneer-era Apple Types Thought Extinct Found in US West.” AP News (April 15).

Wallace, Eric J. 2021. “Meet the Appalachian Apple Hunter Who Rescued 1,000 ‘Lost’ Varieties.” Atlas Obscura (June 3).

Foodland Ontario (Food Facts)
Apples

Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs – Recommended Apple Varieties for Ontario

– Bananas
Facts and Details. 2011. Bananas: Their History, Cultivation and Production.

Vézina, Anne. 2017.  “The Hidden Side of Banana Diversity.” Pro Musa (October 24).

Mayyasi, Alex. 2019. “When New Yorkers Were Menaced by Banana Peels.” Atlas Obscura (July 24).

Ploetz, Randy C. 2005. “Panama Disease: An Old Nemesis Rears Its Ugly Head. Part 1. The Beginnings of the Banana Export Trades.” Plant Health Progress (August).

Thompson, Stuart. 2019. “The Quest to Save the Banana from Extinction.” The Conversation (April 18).

Admin. 2014. “Attack of the Killer Bananas? Hardly.” ACSH News (July 2).

– Pineapple
Williams, Laura. 2023. “The Global Market Miracle of the 99-cent Pineapple.” AIER (April 27).

OTHERS
– Sugar
Sugar Association – History of Sugar

Tupy, Marian L. and Gale Pooley. 2021. “Life Has Gotten Sweeter – Literally!Human Progress (July 1).

Silcoff, Sean. 2012. “Bitter battle rages over Canada’s sugar industry.” The Globe and Mail, June 24.

– Palm Oil
Poku, Kwasi. 2002. Small-Scale Palm Oil Processing in Africa, Chapter 2: Oil Palm.

– Oaks
The oak forest on Visingsö.” JKPG.com.

Leggett, Ben. 2015. “Understanding Oak Barrel Maturation – Part 3: Location, Location, Location.” Distillery Trail (June 30).

LECTURE 7

• Animals
Domesticated Land Animals
– Cannibalism
Jennifer Viegas. 2010. “First Cannibals Ate Each Other for Extra Nutrition.” Discovery Channel News (August 26).

– Cannibalism
Wikipedia – Human cannibalism

– Entomophagy
BBC News. 2013. “Insect diet: Fancy Cricket Risotto or Mealworm Cake?” (August 23).

FAO. 2013. The Contribution of Insects to Food Security, Livelihoods and the Environment. (May 12).

– History
Breeds of Livestock – Oklahoma State University

Avery, Dennis. 2010. “When Sheep didn’t have Wool.” CFACT News, November 26.

Melletti, Mario. 2016. “Cattle Domestication: from Aurochs to Cow.” Fifteen Eighty-Four (February 18).

Steak School. “What’s the Difference Between Beef Taurus and Beef Indicus?

Howard, Jacqueline. 2014. “Chickens Look Way Different Today, And Here’s The Reason Why.” Huffington Post (October 21).

Smil, Vaclav. 2019. “How Chicken Beat Beef in America. It was deemed the healthier alternative, and it was undoubtedly cheaper.” IEEE Spectrum (December 26).

– Recent Trends
Ritchie, Hannah et al. 2019. Meat and Dairy Production – Our World in Data.

Dowding, Heather. 2008. “Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation.” In Cutler J. Cleveland (ed). Encyclopedia of the Earth.

FAO. 2007. “Industrial livestock production threatens animal diversity – UN.” UN News (June 14).

Zielinski, Sarah. 2014. “Bees and Wasps in Britain Have Been Disappearing For More Than a Century.” Smithsonian Magazine (December 11).

Miller, Henry. 2015. “Viewpoint: The new bee crisis is just like the old one: Phony.” Genetic Literacy Project (May 13).

Nelson, Daniel. 2018. “Lab Grown Meat May Soon Be Available To General Public.” Science Trends (September 24).

LECTURE 8

Fisheries, Seafood and Aquaculture
– Overview
Ritchie, Hannah and Max Roser. 2021. Fish and Overfishing – Our World in Data.

– Fisheries
Pauly, Daniel and Dirk Zeller. 2010. “Marine Fisheries.” In Cutler J. Cleveland (ed). Encyclopedia of the Earth.

GDAE, Jonathan M. Harris and Anne-Marie Codur. 2008. “Economics of Fisheries.” In Cutler J. Cleveland (ed). Encyclopedia of the Earth.

– Aquaculture
Encyclopedia Britannica. 1911. “Pisciculture.”

Smil, Vaclav. 2021. “Farming Fish.” IEEE Spectrum (May): 20-21.

SUGGESTED READINGS

• Overview
Bhagat, Maya et al. 2022. “(Re)Mapping the Columbian Exchange. Suggestions for an Updated Cartography.” Food and History (Revue de l’Institut Européen d’Histoire de l’Alimentation) 20 (2) : 59-86.

Foodland Ontario, Food Facts

Kluyver, Thomas A., Glynis Jones, Benoît Pujol, Christopher Bennett, Emily J. Mockford, Michael Charles, Mark Rees and Colin P. Osborne. 2017. “Unconscious Selection Drove Seed Enlargement in Vegetable Crops.” Evolution Letters (1-2): 64-72.

• Commodity Trading
Eh.Net Encyclopedia of Economic and Business History
– Santos, Joseph. 2008. “A History of Futures Trading in the United States.”

• Plants
-Wheat
Newman, Patrick. 2023. “Review of Oceans of Grain. How American Wheat Remade the World by Scott Reynolds Nelson.” Independent Review 27 (4) (Spring).

J. M. Prescott, P. A. Burnett, E. E. Saari, J. Ranson, J. Bowman, W. de Milliano, R. P. Singh, G. Bekele. Wheat Diseases and Pests: A Guide for Field Identification. International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center.

Olmstead, Alan L., & Paul W. Rhode, “Biological Globalization: The Other Grain Invasion,” in Timothy J. Hatton, Kevin O’Rourke, & Alan M. Taylor, (eds.), The New Comparative Economic History: Essays in Honor of Jeffrey G. Williamson (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2007), pp. 115-140.

University of Nebraska–Lincoln. 2010. Wheat Disease Management.

Lupton, F. “Advances in work on breeding wheat with improved grain quality in the twentieth century.” The Journal of Agricultural Science (2005), 143: 113-116.

Symko, Stephan. 1999. From a single seed Tracing the Marquis wheat success story in Canada to its roots in the Ukraine. Web Publication of Research Branch Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada.

Guarino, Ben. 2018. “Scientists Have Discovered The Earliest Evidence of Bread, And It’s Much Older Than We Expected.” Washington Post (July 17).

US National Park Service. Wheat Farms, Flour Mills, and Railroads: A Web of Interdependence (Teaching with Historic Places).

Breahaut, Laura. 2022. “How a single Ukrainian grain made its way to Canada and launched Canadian wheat. ‘The entire development of Canada’s wheat industry, the most renowned in the world, is due mainly to a single Ukrainian grain of wheat.’” National Post (May 22).

Symko, Stephan. 1999. From a single seed: tracing the Marquis Wheat success story in Canada to its roots in the Ukraine. Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada.

Kovak, Emma et al. 2022. “The World’s First Genetically Engineered Wheat Is Here. Argentina’s new genetically engineered, drought-tolerant wheat could have large environmental benefits.” The Breakthrough (April 4).

-Corn
Claudia Reinhardt and Bill Ganzel. 2003. “The Science of Hybrids.” Living History Farm (York, Nebraska).

Learn Genetics. Date Unknown. “Evolution of Corn.” University of Utah.

Briggs, Rachel V. 2015. “Everything You Ever Needed to Know About Nixtamalization But Didn’t Know to Ask.” All Things Hominy (October 8).

Ongu, Isaac and Emma Kovac. 2022. “Limits to Adoption of Genetically Engineered Maize in Africa. Farmers can’t grow what they can’t afford.” The Breakthrough (March 2).

US National Science Foundation. 2005. “Scientists Trace Corn Ancestry from Ancient Grass to Modern Crop | NSF – National Science Foundation.” (News Release 05-088) (May 27).

– Rice
Wu, Shellen X. 2021. “Yuan Longping (1930–2021). Crop scientist whose high-yield hybrid rice fed billions.” Nature (June 24).

Koizumii, Tatsuji, Stephan Hubertus Gay and Gen Furuhashi. 2021. Reviewing Indica and Japonica rice market developments. OECD Food, Agriculture and Fisheries Papers 154 (April 9).

Purugganan, Michael. 2020. “How rice spread across Asia by Rafal Gutaker and Michael Purugganan.” Springer Nature: Research Communities (May 15).

USDA. Rice World Production (latest figures).

– Soybeans
Gibson, Lance, and Garren Benson. 2005. “Origin, History, and Uses of Soybean (Glycine max).”  Iowa State University, Department of Agronomy.

How Soybeans are Used.” North Carolina Soybean Producers Association, Inc.

Trends in U.S. Agriculture – Oats and Soybeans.” National Agricultural Statistics Service, United States Department of Agriculture.

– Potato
McNeill, William H. 1999. “How the Potato changed World History.” Social Research 66 (1): 67-83.

Earle, Rebecca. 2019. “A Brief History of That Most Noble Tuber, the Potato.” Lit Hub (March 28).

– Sweet Potato
Perez Garcia, Manuel. 2018. “Challenging National Narratives: On the Origins of Sweet Potato in China as Global Commodity During the Early Modern Period.” In Manuel Perez Garcia and Lucio De Sousa (eds). Global History and New Polycentric Approaches. Europe, Asia and the Americas in a World Network System. Springer, pp. 53-80.

– Brassica
Cheng, F., Wu, J., Cai, C. et al. 2016. “Genome resequencing and comparative variome analysis in a Brassica rapa and Brassica oleracea collection.” Scientific Data 3, 160119.

– Apple
Warren, Emily. 2020. “How Former Samurai and Farmers Cultivated the First Japanese Apples. Famous fruits, including the Fuji apple, were the result of decades of effort.” Gastro Obscura (August 14).

– Grapes
Curry, Andrew. 2017. “Oldest Evidence of Winemaking Discovered at 8,000-Year-Old Village.” National Geographic (November 13).

– Bananas
Mihm, Stephen. 2017. “The Bananapocalypse Is Nigh. The failure to diversify makes the world’s favorite fruit vulnerable to a wipeout.” Bloomberg Opinion (December 21).

Solly, Meilan. 2019. “A Banana-Destroying Fungus Has Arrived in the Americas.” Smithsonian Magazine (August 13).

Frost, Natasha. 2018. “A Quest for the Gros Michel, the Great Banana of Yesteryear.” Gastro Obscura (February 28).

– Sugar
Galloway, Jock. H. The Sugar Cane Industry: An Historical Geography from its Origins to 1914. Cambridge University Press (Introduction).

Galloway, Jock. 2000. “Sugar.” In Kenneth F. Kiple and Kriemhild Coneè Ornelas (eds). The Cambridge World History of Food, Cambridge University Press, pp. 437-449.

-Tea
Sonnad, Nikhil. 2018. “Tea if by sea, cha if by land: Why the world only has two words for tea.” Quartz (January 11).

-Cotton
Brazeau, Marc. 2018. “Edible Cotton: How genetically modified cottonseed could revolutionize food and feed production.” Genetic Literacy Project (November 14).

-Grasslands
Hopkins, A., and R. J. Wilkins. “Temperate grassland: key developments in the last century and future perspectives.” The Journal of Agricultural Science (2006), 144: 503-523.

• Animals
– Entomophagy
Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (FAO). 2013. Edible Insects – Future Prospects for Food and Feed Security. FAO Forestry Paper.

Bryce, Emma. 2014. “Foodies Unite: Insects Should Be More Food Than Fad.” The Guardian (May 20).

Orlowski, Andrew. 2021. “Let Them Eat Bugs: The elites’ war on meat has taken a disgusting turn.” Spiked (December 30).

Hunter, Gina Louise. 2021. Edible Insects: A Global History . Reaktion Books.

– Domesticated Land Animals
-Overview
Ahmad, Hafiz Ishfaq et al. 2020. “The Domestication Makeup: Evolution, Survival, and Challenges.” Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution 8: 103.

Smil, Vaclav. 2002. “Eating Meat: Evolution, Patterns and Consequences,” Population and Development Review 28 (4): 599-639.

Thornton, Philip K. 2010. “Livestock Production: Recent Trends, Future Prospects.” Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B (Biological Sciences) 365 (1554) (September 27): 2853-2867.

– Dogs
Curry, Andrew. 2023. “Curly haired ‘woolly dogs’ of the Pacific Northwest were no myth. Lost history of unique dogs recovered by weaving together data from DNA and Coast Salish oral traditions.” Science (December 14).

– Pigs
Giuffra E. et al. 2000. “The Origin of the Domestic Pig: Independent Domestication and Subsequent Introgression.” Genetics 154: 1785–1791.

Ontario Federation of Anglers & Hunters. Undated. Wild Pigs in Ontario.

Newcomb, Tim. 2023. “Highly Intelligent and Possibly Invincible Super Pigs Are Invading America Don’t say we didn’t warn you.” Popular Mechanics (February 21).

Marshall, Sage. 2023. “Population Explosion of Canadian “Super Pigs” Could Spread Into the Northern U.S. A cross between wild boars and domestic pigs, these feral swine can survive cold climates and could create a whole new pig problem for northern states.” Field and Stream (January 18).

Bergstrøm, Ida Irene. 2023. “Pigs provided food in the Middle Ages, but men had to watch out for their scrotums.” Science Norway (November 12).

Bosse, Mirte. 2018. “A Genomics Perspective on Pig Domestication.” In Fabrice Teletchea (ed). Animal Domestication. IntechOpen.

– Dairy Products
Hart, Amalyah. 2021. “Toasting a big week for ancient gastronomy. Gourmet goodies found in centuries-old Austrian and Byzantine sites.” Cosmos (October 14).

Curry, Andrew. 2020. “Warrior skeletons reveal Bronze Age Europeans couldn’t drink milk. Ability to digest dairy as an adult evolved later—and much more quickly—than scientists thought.” Science (September 3).

Phelan, Benjamin. 2012. “The Most Spectacular Mutation in Recent Human History – How did milk help found Western civilization?Slate (Oct.23).

-Taurus and Bubalus

Killough, Kevin. 2024. “Demonized as contributing to climate change, cattle may actually decrease emissions, research shows.” Just the News (May 14).

Howes, Anton. 2023. “Cash Cows.” Age of Invention. (August 10).

Hubbell, Diana. 2022. “The Once-Extinct Aurochs May Soon Roam Europe Again.” Atlas Obscura. (January 26).

Hubbell, Diana. 2022. “The Once-Extinct Aurochs May Soon Roam Europe Again. After a decade, scientists are getting close to bringing back the massive wild cattle.” Gastro Obscura (January 26).

Schulz, Matthias. 2010. “Neolithic Immigration: How Middle East Milk Drinkers Conquered Europe.” Der Spiegel (October 15).

Critchell, James and Raymond Joseph Troubridge. 1912. A History of the Frozen Meat Trade: An account of the development and present day methods of preparation, transport, and marketing of frozen and chilled meats. London: Constable & Company Ltd., pp. 1-17.

Hamad Minervino, Antonio Humberto et al. 2020. “Bubalus bubalis: A Short Story.” Frontiers in Veterinary Science 7: 570413.

Zhang, Y. et al. 2020. “Asian water buffalo: Domestication, history and genetics.” Animal Genetics 51 (2): 177-191.

Naveena B. Maheswarappa, Naveena B. et al. 2022. Asiatic Water Buffalo: A Sustainable and Healthy Red Meat Source. Springer.

-Livestock and Environmental Issues
UN FAO 2010. The State of Food and Agriculture 2009: Livestock in the Balance.

Pew Commission on Industrial Farm Animal Production. 2008. Final Report: Putting Meat on The Table: Industrial Farm Animal Production in America.

– Chicken
Bower, Bruce. 2022. “Domestic chickens’ origin story may have begun about 3,500 years ago.” Science News (June 6).

-Bees
Randal R. Rucker and Walter N. Thurman. 2012. Colony Collapse Disorder: The Market Response to Bee Disease. PERC Policy Series: PS-50.

– Honeybees
ACSH News. 2014. “Jon Entine Debunks Theory Linking Neonic Pesticides to Honeybee Collapse.” (November 26).

Zielinski, Sarah. 2014. “Bees and Wasps in Britain Have Been Disappearing For More Than a Century.” Smithsonian Magazine (December 11).

Roberts, Owen. 2017. “Beepocalypse not now: Canada’s honeybee colonies up 10% in 2017 to record high.” Toronto Star (June 29).

Regan, Shawn. 2017. “How Capitalism Saved the Bees. A decade after colony collapse disorder began, pollination entrepreneurs have staved off the beepocalypse.” Reason (August/September).

Entine, Jon. 2018. “Honeybee Population isn’t ‘Crashing’ and Seed Pesticides are not Driving Health Problems-and Here’s Why.” Genetic Literacy Project (April 17).

Porterfield, Andrew. 2018 “Viewpoint: No, wild bees haven’t been decimated by neonicotinoids, glyphosate.” Genetic Literacy Project (September 18).

– Fisheries, Seafood and Aquaculture
– Fisheries
* Overview
UN FAO. 2004. The State of the World Fisheries

Welcomme, Robin L. et al. 2010. “Inland Capture FisheriesPhilosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B (Biological Sciences) 365 (1554) (September): 2881-2896.

Bostock, John et al. 2010. “Aquaculture: Global Status and Trends.” Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B (Biological Sciences) 365 (1554) (September): 2897-2912.

GreenFacts.org. 2014. “Fisheries and aquaculture.” In Cutler J. Cleveland (ed). Encyclopedia of the Earth.

FAO. 2020. The State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture 2020. In brief. Sustainability in action. Rome. (Note: The full report and an interactive website are also available).

* Problems and solutions
OECD. 2010. While Stocks Last?

Burnett, H. Sterling. Ph.D. 2007. “Ocean Fisheries: Common Heritage or Tragic Commons?Brief Analysis No. 581, National Center for Policy Analysis, February 27.

Ellis, Richard. 2008. “The Bluefin Tuna in Peril.” Scientific American, June 24.

Garcia, Serge M. and Andrew Rosenberg. 2010. “Food Security and Marine Capture Fisheries: Characteristics, Trends, Drivers and Future PerspectivesPhilosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B (Biological Sciences) 365 (1554) (September): 2869-2880.

Gissurarson, Hannes. 2000. Overfishing: the Icelandic Solution. London: Institute of Economic Affairs.

Hannesson, Rögnvaldur. “The Privatization of the Oceans.” The Independent Review, Vol. 11 No 3, Winter 2007.

Leal, Donald R. 2002. “Fencing the Fishery – A Primer on Ending The Race for Fish.” Property and Environment Research Center (PERC).

Safina, Carl. 2009 “A Future for US FisheriesIssues in Science and Technology 25 (4), (Summer).

Marra, John. 2005. “When will we tame the oceans?Nature 436: 175-176, 14 July.

– Aquaculture
* Historical Perspective
Geoffrey Kron. 2005. “Possible Evidence for the Aquaculture of Tilapia in GrecoRoman Antiquity.” Revue d’histoire comparée de l’environnement.

Herminio R. Rabanal. 1988. “History of Aquaculture.” FAO.

Whit Richardson. 2011. “The Mastery of Fish.” Lapham’s Quarterly (Summer).

* Overview and controversies
AIMS & CAI. 2006. Aquaculture: The Blue Revolution. Autumn 2006.

Halweil, Brian. 2008. “Farming Fish for the Future.” WorldWatch Report 176.

FAO – IIRR – World Fish Center. 2001. Integrated agriculture-aquaculture – A primer. FAO Fisheries Technical Paper #407.

Alder, Jacqueline, Brooke Campbell, Vasiliki Karpouzi, Kristin Kaschner, and Daniel Pauly. 2008. “Forage Fish: From Ecosystems to Markets.” Annual Review of Environment and Resources 33: 153-166.

Naylor, Rosamond & Marshall Burke. 2005. “Aquaculture and Ocean Resources: Raising Tigers of the Sea.” Annual Review of Environment and Resources 30: 185-218.

Rosamond L. Naylor et al. 2009. “Feeding Aquaculture in an Era of Finite Resources.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 106 (36): 15103?15110.

Half Of Fish Consumed Globally Is Now Raised On Farms, Study Finds.” ScienceDaily, Sep. 8, 2009.

– Canada fisheries and aquaculture
Bavington, Dean. 2010. Managed Annihilation. An Unnatural History of the Newfoundland Cod Collapse
Introduction and chapter 1

Young, Nathan and Ralph Matthews. 2010. Aquaculture Controversy in Canada. UBC Press.
Introduction and chapter 1: aquaculture in global context

Neill, Robin. 2006. “It Is Farming, Not Fishing: Why Bureaucrats and Environmentalists Miss the Point of Canadian Aquaculture.” How to Farm the Seas (Paper # 4), Atlantic Institute for Market Studies (AIMS), April.

SUGGESTED LINKS

• Plants
– General
USDA. National Agricultural Library Plants and Crops

– Potato
International Year of the Potato
International Potato Center (CGIAR center)
The Potato Museum

Ontario Potato Board
Ontario Potatoes 
Growing Potatoes 
Potato Varieties 
FAQs 

Corn
Dolan DNA Learning Center (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory)
Explosives Origins of Corn
Maize (Corn) Genome Completed

National Corn Growers Association (USA)

Rice
Allow Golden Rice Now

Pulse
Pulse Canada 

• Chocolat
Smithsonian.com “Chocolate Week”

• Animals
– Entomophagy
UN FAO on Edible Forest Insects

– Land Animals
USDA. National Agricultural Library Animals and Livestock

Pew Commission on Industrial Animal Farm Production

Oklahoma State University – Breeds of Livestock

The United States Meat Industry at a Glance (meatinstitute.org).

– Fisheries, Seafood and Aquaculture
USDA. National Agricultural Library. Aquaculture

GreenFacts.org on Fisheries

The OECD on fisheries

UN FAO Fisheries and Aquaculture Department

The U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy

Breakthrough Institute. “Plenty of Fish on the Farm.”

• Videos
Sushi and the End of the Southern Bluefish Tuna (2009)

Global Sushi: Soft Powers and Hard Realities