Ten thousand years after humans figured out how to stop wandering and plant crops, veteran investigative journalist Mark Schapiro plunges into the battle underway for control of seeds, the ground-zero ingredient for our food. The stakes have never been higher, as unprecedented climate volatility threatens the long-term security of our food supply.
Three-quarters of the seed varieties on Earth in 1900 had become extinct by 2015. In Seeds of Resistance, Schapiro takes us onto the frontlines of a struggle over the seeds that remain.
Schapiro reveals how more than half of all commercially-traded seeds have fallen under the control of just three multinational agri-chemical companies, and unravels the myths that lie behind their genetically engineered and crack-baby seeds, addicted to pesticides from the day they are planted. He dives deep into the heroic and increasingly powerful movement in the United States and around the world that is defying those trends, and embarks on a search for the seeds that offer our best and healthiest options for resisting the rush of climatic changes.
Schapiro applies his investigative and storytelling skills to this riveting narrative, from the environmentally stressed fields of the American Midwest to the war-torn fields of Syria, from Native American communities that have been cultivating crops in extreme conditions for centuries to the financial markets that have been turning patented seeds into one of the planet’s most valuable commodities. Seeds of Resistance lifts the lid on the struggle over seeds as conditions on the earth shift above our heads and beneath our feet.
This will be a special edition of Real Food Reads, bringing together author Mark Schapiro and farmer, seed preserver, and activist Kristyn Leach in conversation together live at the Center for Urban Education and Sustainable Agriculture.
