Most of the response from my post, “Agriculture Is Imperialism“, was positive. There were a few naysayers, but none really had any substantive critiques, and tended to recycle the flawed “yeah, but we have to turn the entire planet into a factory farm to support an infinite population” argument — the same argument I pointed out was flawed in the piece. In the aftermath, I was directed to two pieces of media that provide a somewhat more tempered account of the range of impacts of agriculture.
- Against the Grain, book by Richard Manning (2005). Thanks to J. Stanton and Elizabeth Miller for the recommendation.
- America’s Lost Landscape: The Tallgrass Prairie, award-winning documentary film (2005). Available on DVD and through Netflix streaming.
Both present the arguments that farming is less sustainable, and less productive than the natural ecosystem. Richard Manning is actually featured in the documentary as well.
Author: Andrew
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