A Nation of Farmers: Book Review

Food shortages have become the buzzword everywhere in the world. In a globalized world where food is no longer grown and consumed in the same place, crop failure in one nation means shortage somewhere else. In the recent years we have had instances when India had banned export of rice because crop had failed in Thailand and other rice producing nations.

The first world nations have the money power to out buy crops and food from impoverished third-world nations and leave their citizens starving. How long can this practice continue? There have been food-related rioting, protests and movements in various third-world nations and emerging economies also.

The worst hit in this crises are the poor in every nation, be it America or India or China or any sub-Saharan nation. The poorest of the poor always go hungry and are most affected by any price rise.

In this context Sharon Astyk and Aaron Newton have come out with this noteworthy and information-rich volume: A nation of Farmers. The main theme of the book is how American people can save themselves and their nation from the impending food shortage. The book is a fervent appeal from the authors to the common people of America urging them to convert their backyards into gardens where they can grow their own food, rear chickens and other consumable animals.

I believe that with so much land and so little population America could well become the bread basket of the world. There needs to be political will and a social change... no social transformation. After reading this book I am convinced that it should be mandatory reading for every high school and college student in the country. This is one of the sure-shot ways to attain food-self-reliance for America and today's citizens owe it to themselves and their nation to achieve this.