[스크랩] Brewster Kneen/누가 우리의 밥상을 지배하는가

 

“누가 우리의 밥상을 지배하는가” - Brewster Kneen 초청 토론회 - 1. 취지 먹거리의 안정성은 우리 국민의 건강권과 생존에 직접적으로 영향을 미치는 문제입니다. 유전자 조작 농산물의 수입, 생산과 유통은 자본의 논리에만 맡겨져서는 안 되며 자연과 국민 모두의 생명을 보전하고 풍성하게 하고자 하는 입장에서 다루어져야 한다는 의미에서 "누가 우리의 밥상을 지배하는가" 제하에 생명공학과 농업정책을 주제로 Brewster Kneen 박사를 모시고 초청 간담회를 개최하고자 합니다. 2. 주최 : 유승희 의원실, 강기갑 의원실, 생명학연구원 3. 일시 : 2005 4월 14일 오전 10시 30분 국회 귀빈식당 4. 내용 □ 사회자 : 김용복 박사 (생명학연구원 원장) □ 주제발제 : Brewster Kneen □ 토론자 : 권영근 소장(한국농어촌사회연구소), 박민선(농협대학 교수) 5. Brewster Kneen 소개 □ 캐나다의 농업 기업에 관한 주요 분석가이자 비평가. □ 다국적 곡물메이저 카길사가 세계의 식품 체제를 거의 완전히 통제하는 것을 넘어 자신의 지배력을 어떻게 확장하고 있는지 파헤쳐 옴. □ GMO, 식품, 농업, 생명공학 등 다양하고 폭넓은 분야에 대한 연구를 해옴.(관련 분야의 세계적 권위자)

"누가 우리의 밥상을 지배하는가" - [생명공학과 농업정책]

￭ 2005 4월 14일(목) 오전 10시 30분 / 국회 귀빈식당 2호실
￭ 주 최 : 유승희 의원실, 강기갑 의원실, 생명학연구원
￭ 내 용
- 사 회 : 김용복 박사 (생명학연구원 원장)
- 주제발표 : Brewster Kneen
- 토 론: 윤병선 (건국대 농경제학과 교수), 박민선(농협대학 교수)
￭ 행사취지
생명공학의 발전은 농업에 많은 영향을 미치고 있습니다. 유전자 조작(GMO)으로 생산된 식품이 우리들의 식탁에 올라오고 있습니다. 이러한 생명공학의 진전과 농업 그리고 먹거리 환경의 변화에 대해 바라보는 입장은 시각에 따라 다릅니다. 먹거리 안정성을 우려하기도 하고, 농업 생산력과 식량 확보에 대한 기대감을 표시하기도 합니다. 이러한 논란의 정점에서 세계 식량 생산과 유통의 본질을 파헤치며 줄기차게 노력을 해 온 이가 있습니다. 브루스터 닌 박사가 그 분입니다. “누가 우리의 밥상을 지배하는가?”의 저자로 널리 알려진 세계적인 석학을 모시고 우리의 농업과 식량 환경 그리고 생명공학의 문제에 대해 토론하는 기회를 갖고자 합니다. 관심있는 분들의 많은 참여를 바랍니다.
￭ 문의:강찬호784-3851(유승희의원실) 이호중784-5721(강기갑의원실)

 

 

 

 

<발표문>

 

생명공학 산업과 농업 정책

 

브루스터 닌(Brewster Kneen)

 

2004년 4월 14일

 

우리가 ‘농업’이라는 단어를 사용할 때, 의미하는 것은 무엇인가? 세계적인 농업 관련사업과 그에 따른 로비, 캐나다 혹은 미국 정부, 생명공학 산업, 혹은 캐나다와 미국의 정책 형태를 결정하는 농업 상품 협회로부터 받는 인상에도 불구하고, 이에 대해 일반적으로 동의되는 정의는 존재하지 않는다.

 

20년 전에 우리는 “대안적인” 농업에 대해 언급하기 시작했다. 생산품 농업이라는 주류 산업적 모델의 실제와 귀결에 대해 의문을 가지게 되었다. 점차적으로, “유기”농이란 말이 들리기 시작했으나, 낮은 투입량과 지속가능한 생태적 유기농은 지구적 시장에서 여전히 “관행” 농법 생산물에 대해 본질적으로 주변적인 대안이라는 가정이 남아 있었다. 대안적인 유기농은 마지못해 겨우 틈새시장 공급자로 인식되었다.

 

그러나 20년 동안에 많은 변화가 있었다. 생명공학의 성장과 함께 유기적이고 생태적인 농업의 성장이 나란히 나타났다. 그러나 이 둘의 관계는 대립적이다. 생명공학 산업 측에서는 생명공학 기술이 좀 더 빠르고, 더 정확하기 때문에 전통적인 식물 재배에 대한 “개선”일 뿐이라고 우리가 믿도록 하기 위해 계속 노력한다. 그러나 미국에서 유전자공학 농업생산물을 유기적 농산물 기준에 따라 허용하기 위해 새로운 유기농 기준을 얻으려고 시도할 때, 미국 농업부는 대중으로부터 수십만 통의 항의 편지를 받았다. 그리고 어떤 형태로든 유기농이라는 기준을 생명공학기술에 허용해 주려던 생각을 포기하게 되었다. 이는 북미 유기농업의 전환점일 수 있으며, 유기농이 산업농업에 대한 대안으로 더 이상 주변적이기만 하지 않는 것을 의미한다. 식량 유통업자들은 분명히 알아들었고, 소매점에서 유기농산품 코너를 마련하기 시작했다.

 

이제 나는 우리들이 반전을 보기 시작했다고 말하고 싶다. 산업농업은 유기농이 주류가 되면서 주변적이 되어가고 있다. “대안”이란 말은 대안 농경법, 대안문화, 대안마케팅 실천을 의미하는 것으로 확실히 자리 잡았다.

 

내가 여기서 강조하고 싶은 점은 생명공학기술과 유기농적 생산 방법이 동시에 성장한 것은 우연의 일치가 아니라는 점이다. 양측 모두 생산 방법이기만 하기보다는 많은 것을 내포한다. 양측 모두 철학과 문화인데, 그 둘은 생명과 창조에 대해서 근본적으로 다른 태도를 보인다. 나는 ‘창조’라는 말을 사용하는데, 그것은 신비함과 존경, 그리고 우리가 창조하지 않았으나 우리가 세상을 바꾸어 개조해온 것이 세상에 대한 적절한 짓이었는지 의문을 가지는 것을 나타내기 때문이다.

 

반면에 생명공학, 유전자 공학의 종사자들은, 착취와 이윤을 위한 자원으로 이루어진 우리 외부의 어떤 것이라고 표현하는 태도로 “자연 자원” 혹은 “환경”, 혹은 “자연”이라는 단어를 사용한다.[보다 진지한 지적 탐구의 필요성을 느끼는 분들을 위해, 프랑스 사회학자인 Bruno Latour의 Politics of Nature(2004, Harvard)를 추천한다.]

 

여기에서 일반적인 관행농업의 시작, 혹은 특정한 단일재배 작물생산에 대해 논쟁할 필요는 없다. 그러나 우리가 식품과 섬유질에 대해 산업 생산품이라고 인식하는 것은 환원축소주의적 과학의 산물이며, 서구 식민주의, 진보를 일직선적 역사인 것으로 단순화한 인식의 산물이라고 말할 수 있다. 역사적으로 이러한 개념들은 지역적이고, 지속적인 식품 시스템을 몰아내 버리고 수출을 위한 단일재배 작물로 대체하는 방법이었다. 지역 인구를 잘 먹여 살리는 것은 제국주의 혹은 식민주의의 목적이나 관심이 아니었다. 그들의 목적은 의존성의 창조였다. 나는 이 문제에 대해 나중에 다시 언급하겠다.

 

축소환원주의적 과학은 유기체를 그 자체 완전성을 가진 전체로서 보는 것이 아니라 우리가 오늘날 수퍼마켓에서 찾을 수 있는 가공식품과 같이 각 부분의 집합으로 본다. 지구적인 부품 조달은 식품 성분뿐만 아니라 유전학에도 적용되고, 환원축소주의적 과학은 “진보”되어 유기체이든 식품이든 그 성분의 목록이 점점 길어지고 있다. 

 

생명공학기술과 유전자 공학의 극단적인 형태로서 산업농업은 박테리아, 씨앗 혹은 모든 식물과 생태환경을 고려할 때 완전성을 인정하지 않는다. 사실 나는 생명공학 기술의 옹호자와 법인 설립자들에게 생물학과 사업의 완전성을 인정하지 않는다고 말해주곤 한다.

 

이는 산업농업과 유기농업이 갈라지는 지점이다. 유기농은 전체 시스템의 완전성과 시스템으로서의 전체 유기체의 완전성에 근거한다. 식물에게 영양분을 공급하는 대신, 유기농은 토양의 건강과 식물의 먹이의 근원으로서의 환경에 중점을 맞춘다. 생태적 유기농은 생물, 즉 생명이 단순한 물질이 아니기 때문에 복합성과 다양성에 근거한다.

 

산업농업 자체처럼, 농업적인 생명공학은, 단순성과 단일재배에 근거한다. 단순성의 개념은 하나의 유전자, 하나의 단백질이라는 생명공학의 핵심적 도그마에서 표현되는데, 50년 전에는 흥미로운 이론이었으나 오늘날은 매우 빈약한 과학이다. 하나의 유전자, 혹은 하나의 유전적 구성체는 맥락에 따라 다양한 결과를 만들어 내거나 전혀 아닐 수도 있다. 즉, 어디에 있느냐, 혹은 유전자 공학의 경우에는 그것이 결국 무엇이 되는지, 그리고 그 과정에서 무엇과 만나는지의 문제가 있다.

 

유전자는 단순히 어떤 것을 만드는 것이 아니다. 유전자는 제초제 내성 혹은 특정한 해충에 대한 저항 등과 같은 특성을 부여하는 것일 수 있지만, 그러나 더 중요한 질문은 그것들이 달리 무엇을 하는가라는 문제이다. 하나의 유전자의 기능은 유기체 속의 즉각적인 환경에 의해서 뿐만 아니라 유기체가 스스로 찾아낸 외부의 환경에 의해서도 영향을 받을 수 있다. 게다가 아마도 더욱 중요한 것은 유전적 기술의 과정 자체가 무작위적인 사건이라는 사실이다. 가장 광범위하게 쓰이는 유전자 삽입 방법은 축소물의 샷건(shotgun=일발해결)이기 때문에, 기술자는 작은 DNA의 조각이 어떤 결과를 가져올지, 그리고 게놈 속의 미지의 장소의 삽입으로 인한 장기적인 결과가 무엇인지를 알 수 있는 길이 없다. 게다가 유전적 변화는 한 방향으로 일어나지 않는다. 변형된 게놈은 예측할 수 없이 자발적으로 다시 변화할 수 있다.

 

Monsanto사가 제초제 내성을 위해 간단히 특정한 유전적 구조를 식물에 첨가한 것뿐이라고 말할 때, 그것은 단순히 보면 맞는 말일지 모르나, 완전히 맞는 말은 아니다. 그들은 유전자 공학의 과정에 그들이 어떤 짓을 했는지를 모르고 있을 것이다.

 

가장 최근의 실례는 승인받지 못한 Bt 옥수수의 경우인데, Syngenta사 자신이 만들었다고 하는 것과 같지 않다는 사실을 모른 채 이를 4년 동안이나 유통시켜왔다는 사실이다.

 

그 옥수수는 토양 박테리아 Bacillus thuringiensis(Bt) 유전자에 의해 다시 변형되었다. Syngenta는 미국에서 Bt11이라고 불리우는 다양한 유전형질 변형 작물을 파는 승인을 가졌다. 그러나 2001년에서 2004년 사이에 Syngenta는 부주의로 인해 승인받지 않은 다른 유전자 변형작물인 수백 톤의 Bt10 옥수수를 생산하여 유통시켰다.

 

Bt10 옥수수는 단백질 독소에 대한 코드화되지 않은 유전자의 배열에서 소수의 뉴클레오티드에 의해 Bt11 옥수수와 구분된다. Syngenta의 규제국의 책임자인 제프 스타인은 문제의 옥수수는 Syngenta의 승인된 종자와는 이 식물의 게놈에 외부의 다른 유전자 형질이 놓여진 것만 다를 뿐이라고 말했다.

 

Syngenta는 종자 생산업체들 중 하나가 식물 재배 실험에서 옥수수 종자를 사용하려고 시도하다가 그 종자가 Bt11이 아니라는 통지를 주었을 때에야 실수를 발견했다.

 

Syngenta의 기업 커뮤니케이션 책임자인 앤 버트에 의해 제공된 진술에 따르면, 회사측에서는 그 종자에 대해 DNA 테스트를 행하기 위한 설비를 업데이트할 때 처음 그 문제에 대해 알게 되었으며, 그 이전의 단백질 테스트에서는 실험적인 Bt10 종자와 정부승인을 받은 Bt11 종자를 구별할 수 없었다고 했다. (2005.3.22 Nature에서)

 

Syngenta는 Bt10은 기본적으로 Bt11 옥수수와 동일하다는 주장을 계속했다. 그러나 일주일 후에 Nature지는 Syngenta의 승인받지 않는 종자는 항생물질 저항 유전자를 포함한다고  보도했다. Syngenta의 대변인인 사라 헐은 일반적으로 항생제로 사용되는 암피실린에 대해 저항성을 주는 표지 유전자(Marker Gene)가 Bt10 종자 안에 존재한다고 인정했다. Bt10 옥수수의 표지 유전자의 존재는 2003년 Bt11 옥수수에는 어떠한 표지 유전자도 없다는 것을 증명하기 위해 Bt10을 비교대상으로 사용한 영국 정부위원회의 충고 주의사항에 기록되어 있다. 헐은 회사 측에서는 “그것이 건강과 안전의 논의와 관련되지 않았으므로” 그 유전자의 존재에 대해 언급하지 않았다고 말했다.(2005.3.29 Nature에서)

 

다시 말해서, 유전자 공학은 오직 투자자를 유혹하기 위한 목적과 대중을 기만하는 데에만 정확하다는 것이다.(규제자들은 보지도 않는다.)

 

생명공학의 본질은 통제이다. 그러므로 식물과 동물과 박테리아는 “유전적 자원”이라 불린다. 즉, 자원은 사람과 기업의 착취와 이윤을 위해 자라고, 발굴되고, 추출되고 기술화되는 것이다.

 

유기농-지역 식품 시스템이라는 행복한 주제로 옮겨가기 전에, 나는 “경쟁”에 대해서도 말할 필요가 있다. 이는 결국 농부와 대중을 끊임없이 때리는 막대기이다. 생명공학이 경쟁력이 되도록 이용하고 수용해야 한다고 우리는 잔소리를 듣는다. 왜냐하면 우리가 하지 않는다면, 다른 농부들 혹은 다른 나라이든 “다른 측”에서 할 것이고, 그때 우리는 경제적 패배자가 될 것이라고 생각하기 때문이다.

 

그러나, “경쟁”은 개인의 적으로서 사회와 공익을 공격하고, 사회적이고 환경적인 모든 생명의 본질을 인지하지 않는 환원축소주의, 자유주의적 용어이다. 그러므로 단일재배 농지의 옥수수는, 유전자가 조작되었건 아니건, 다른 서식자를 전부 몰아내 버린다. 즉, 다른 서식자들은 모두 멸종되었다. 그리고 옥수수 자체는 자연의 환경에 의존하는 것이 아니라, 이제 외계 환경이 되어버린 것으로부터 작물을 보호하기 위해 농부가 구입한 화학 비료와 제초제와 농약을 작물에 “투여‘하는 것에 의존적이 된다. 그 농부는 지금 소수의 다국적 기업을 위한  대리인으로서 그리고 위험부담자로서 행위하는 것이다. 그는 식물을 다시 심기 위한 그 자신의 작물의 종자를 지키고 고르는 대신, 그의 작물을 위해 음식과 약 뿐만 아니라, 종자들까지(교배종이거나 특허를 받았거나, 혹은 둘 다이기 때문에) 매우 높은 비용을 지불하고 구입한다.

 

의존성은 생태를 대체했다 : 농부에 의한 작물의 의존성, 소수의 다국적 기업에 대한 농부의 의존성, 그리고 소수의 다른 다국적 기업에 대한 포식자(이제는 소비자가 된)의 의존성. 그러나 의존성의 창조는 식민주의가 언제나 행해왔던 것이며, 우리는 이를 다양성 파괴의 이야기 속에서 제국의 역사를 볼 수 있다. 가족과 공동사회를 먹이기 위한 소규모 농업과 그것의 대체물인 수출을 위한 산업 생산품은 식품--먹여 살릴 수 있거나 그렇지 않거나, 지역산물이든 수입품이든--시장에의 의존성이 배가되었다. WTO와 다양한 자유 무역 협정은 새로운 것이 아니다. 그것은 단지 식민주의의 새로운 형태일 뿐이다.   

 

그러나 환원축소주의적 과학과 산업농업은 생명공학이 환경을 파괴하면서 수백만 명의 사람들이 굶어죽지 않을 수 있는 절대 필수적인 것이라고 끊임없이 말하고 있다. 나는 이를 “도덕적 협박”이라고 부른다.

 

이 신화를 다시 분석해보자.

 

먼저, 기업 은 내가 앞서 말했듯이 배고픔을 채워주기 위해 사업을 하는 것이 아니다. 그들의 사업은 주주 들을 위해 환경이나 다른 이들에 어떤 희생을 주든 더 많은 돈을 벌기 위한 것이다.

 

다음으로, 유전자 조작 작물은 미국에서 대규모로 재배되고 있고, 기아는 급속하게 확대되고 있다. 유전자 조작 식품의 생산과 기아의 출현은 동시에 증가하고 있다.

 

세 번째로, 모든 과대선전에도 불구하고, 옥수수, 대두, 캐놀라, 면화 등 단지 4개의 생명공학 작물(GMO)이 4곳의 나라에서 대규모로 생산되고 있다. 이는 그것의 목적이 영양이 아니라 이윤의 극대화라는 측면에서 논리적이다. 또한 산업 작물 은 매우 대규모로 재배되어 기업이 추구하는 이윤을 제공할 것이다. 이러한 작물의 유전자 공학 은 대중이나 환경에게는 어떠한 이익도 제공하지 않으며 산업농업이 그랬던 것처럼 오히려 해를 끼칠 가능성이 높다.

 

네 번째로, 그럼에도 불구하고 농업 생명공학 은 재정적 패배자이다. 처음부터 농업 생명공학은 대규모의 정부 보조금을 요구했고, 투기성 자본의 투입을 지속해왔다. 대학연구비의 형태로 지원된 공적 연구의 보조금과, 세금 혜택, 식량 원조를 위한 정부의 구매, 연방정부의 재정지원에 의한 내수 식품 프로그램과, 규제 해이 형태의 지속적인 정부 보조금 없이 생명공학은 없었을 것이다.

 

캐나다와 미국의 정부 규제자들은 유전자 조작 작물의 안정성 평가에 업체 측이 제공하는 자료에 전적으로 의지한다. 그들의 사상(과 그들의 정치적 지배자)에 의해 시장 자유방임 체제에 구속되어 그들은 의도하지 않은 결과를 찾으려 하지도 않는다. 환경과 인간의 건강에 미칠 결과에 대해 실질적으로 어떠한 장기적인 연구도 없다.

 

농업생명공학의 주장은 거대하고 광범위하다. 그러나 독립적인 평가들은 다른 그림을 보여주고 있다. 생명공학 작물 의 주요 이점은 총비용을 감소시키고, 고소득을 가져다주는 것이 아니라, 농부의 생명을 단순화해버리고, 시간을 절약하는 것이다. 애그로톡신(agrotoxin)의 도포 횟수는 감소될 수 있고 고정된 스케줄에 따라 처리될 수 있다. 그러므로 농부의 시간을 절약할 수 있지만, 상당히 증가한 종자 비용과 결합된 애그로톡신(agrotoxin)의 늘어나는 비용과 감소된 수확량(수확량 장애는 유전자 공학의 과정에 기인함)은 모든 이익을 없애버린다. 또한 활동적인 성분 기반한 농약 사용의 총체적인 감소도 전혀 나타나지 않는다.(www.biotech-info.net의 연구 참고)

 

그것이 매우 비싼 광고 캠페인, 로비 활동, 기만과 핑계로 차려입고 우리에게 주어진 암울한 측면의 이야기이다.

 

나는 기만과 핑계라고 말한다. 왜냐하면 그것이 20년 전 농업 생명공학의 시작부터, 대중이 무슨 일이 일어나는지 깨닫기 전에, 유전자 조작된 종자와 식물로 가능한 한 조용하고 빠르게 세계의 식량 공급을 오염시키려는 기업 정책이기 때문이다. 그런 후에 기업은 시계를 돌려놓기에는 너무 늦었다고 말할 수 있다. ‘당신은 우리가 세계의 식량 공급을 오염시켜왔다는 현실과 지금 시점에서 돌이킬 수 없다는 것을 받아들여야만 한다.’ 아르헨티나에서 브라질까지 이어진 Roundup Ready 대두의 확산이 이루어진 것은, 멕시코의 전통적인 재래종 안에서 유전자 조작 옥수수가 발견되고, 아프리카와 중미 등지에서 식량 원조로 유전자 형질 변형 작물을 쏟아부은 것과 같은 맥락이며, 이는 몬산토와 Syngenta를 위해 미국국제개발기구(USAID)가 관리한 것이다.

 

이제 지속적이고, 환경적으로 안정적인 유기농-생명을 주는 농업 의 잠재적인 밝은 측면을 보자.

 

산업적인 ‘서구’ 농업은 명확한 방향으로 진행되어 왔다:

 

. 가축을 이용한 소규모 농업에서 기계화, 화학화, 유전자 공학으로.

. 다양함에서 단일재배로.

. 사회적에서 경쟁적으로.

. 가족-공동체에서 기업으로.

. 지역에서 지구적으로.

 

이제 이런 불공정하고 생태환경에 역행하며, 건강하지 못한 정책 방향을 역으로 돌려야 할 때이다.

 

생명공학 기술의 보급자들이 점점 더 공격적이고 부정직해 짐에 따라, 유기농과 건강식품의 지지자들은 힘과 수적인 면에서 증가해 왔다. 현재 유기농과 건강식품은 항상 그랬던 것처럼 세계 대부분의 사람들을 지속적으로 먹여 살리기 위해 지역의 소비, 작은 규모, 작은 투입의 ‘유기농적’으로 생산하고 있다. 여기에는 전혀 문제가 없다고 말하려는 것이 아니고, 또한 널리 퍼진 기아가 존재하지 않는다고 말하려는 것도 아니다. 그러나 식품의 지구적 교역이 주는 부담과 애그로톡신(agrotoxin)과 유전자 공학으로 세계의 식용 작물의 오염은 기아와 고통을 단지 증가 시킬 것이다.

 

농업과 식품의 문제들은 기술과 대량 생산과 함께 말할 수 없다. 생명공학/유전자 공학은 통제와 의존성의 창조에 관한 것이다; 그것은 단지 불공정하고 환경을 파괴하는 시스템을 강화할 뿐이다. 의존성과 취약성은 건강한 식품 시스템과 안정적인 농업 정책의 특징이 아니다.  

 

나는 이제 더 늦기 전에, 또 하나의 실패한 문명을 갖기 전에, 기업 식품과 산업농업을 포기할 때라고 생각한다.

 

 

http://www.ramshorn.ca/Ramswho.html

 

Brewster Kneen was born in Ohio and studied economics and theology in the U.S. and the U.K. before moving to Toronto in 1965. There he produced public affairs programs for CBC Radio, and worked as a consultant to the churches on issues of social and economic justice. In 1971, with his wife Cathleen and their children Jamie and Rebecca, he moved to Nova Scotia, where they farmed until 1986, starting with a cow-calf operation and then developing a large commercial sheep farm.

For many years Brewster was secretary of the Sheep Producers Association of Nova Scotia and in the early 1980s he organized the Northumberland Lamb Marketing Co-operative (Northumberlamb) and the Brookside Abattoir Co-operative, both farmer owned and operated. In 1980, the Kneens started publishing The Ram's Horn.

In 1986 the Kneens returned to Toronto and Brewster began his current career of writing and lecturing on the food system, with increasing attention to biotechnology. He received two grants from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council as an Independent Scholar for research into 'technological determinism' and in 1994-5 he was a Senior Fellow of the Faculty of Environmental Studies, York University. Brewster was also a founding member of the Toronto Food Policy Council.

The Kneens lived in British Columbia from 1995 to 2006. During this period Brewster engaged in public education and organizing, helping form the BC Biotechnology Circle and the Canadian Biotechnology Action Network (C-BAN). Much of his current focus is on the ‘upstream’ social and intellectual roots of public policy, with the formation of The Forum on Privatization and the Public Domain. (see: www.forumonpublicdomain.ca )

 

 

http://www.share-international.org/archives/economics/ec_dhfromland.htm

 

From land to mouth

Interview with Brewster Kneen

by Diana Holland

 

In an interview, Brewster Kneen, Canadian economist and author, calls market forces-driven agriculture a failed system and suggests a return to local farming.  

 

 

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Brewster Kneen is an economist and author who believes that charity has no place where social justice prevails. I first encountered him on television, explaining his view that big humanitarian concerts like Live Aid are essentially a managed commercial product. While they exhort the general public to give to worthwhile causes such as ending world hunger, Kneen said, they tacitly condone inequitable food production and distribution systems which we should be questioning and beginning to transform. Brewster Kneen has spent over half his life studying the corporate structuring and control of individual commodities such as sugar and canola, and of food systems in general. I recently interviewed him for Share International.

 

Share International: Your book, From Land to Mouth: Understanding the Food System, is one of the most perceptive and interesting I have ever read. What prompted you to begin your analysis?

 

Brewster Kneen: I was concerned about the global effects generated by things we take for granted in the West. If we take the sugar which appears on our table, for example, and trace it back to the cane-cutters in Mozambique, Madagascar or South Africa where it comes from, we find that conditions for the producers are far from the best, and that there are a whole series of corporate structures in between.

 

SI: Could you briefly describe how market forces have influenced agriculture as you see it?

 

BK: The logic of the corporate food system is that food is a commodity, a way of making money. Feeding people is simply a by-product of the system. The basic principle which seems to drive everything is what I call "distancing." You create as much distance as possible between the consumer — the eater — and the farmer from whom the food originates. All of the interventions between consumer and farmer are basically mechanisms by which profit can be made.

 

SI: As you describe it, you’ve experienced first-hand the illogicality of the system.

 

BK: Yes. In 1971, my family and I sold our house and moved from the metropolis of Toronto to the hinterland of Nova Scotia, one of Canada’s Maritime Provinces on the Eastern seaboard. We decided to become farmers and raise sheep. That we had no farm experience or agricultural training turned out to be to our advantage, because our common sense quickly led us to question the current agricultural policy. For example, corn was being subsidized that year in a region where no one had ever dreamed of growing corn.

 

Time and time again, official policies made sense only in a larger context — the uncritical acceptance of farm industrialization, monoculture practices, and specialized agriculture beholden to a handful of large machinery and chemical companies. In a word, agricultural policy served the interests of agribusiness, and the system followed its own logic.

 

When we made more money in one day as dealers in the lamb auction barns than in a whole year as farmers, we realized that the primary producers of food should be intervening in the market on their own behalf instead of through middlemen. We set about organizing a regional, farmer-owned and operated cooperative. This in itself was a good lesson on how the food system is organized, as we came in contact with a whole range of wholesalers, retailers, storehouses, etc. We ended up re-structuring much of the livestock industry in Eastern Canada, and became active in farm politics and organizing.

 

When our children were grown and ready to leave for university, we had to make the difficult decision, like many families, to give up the farm. We could not afford to hire someone to replace family labour and keep it going. In 1986, after 15 years of reinvesting every penny of profit into the farm, we left, selling the entire operation for about half the price of an average house in Toronto. It had been a significant learning experience.

 

Meeting local needs first

 

SI: You espouse a different view of how the food system should work. What needs to change?

 

BK: Agribusiness today exists to produce crops as a means to make money. It fosters the exploitation of people, land and resources to produce crops to export and trade elsewhere, regardless of starvation in the Third World, a farm crisis in North America, and endemic environmental degradation everywhere. I suggest that we should concentrate on feeding the family and the local community first, and then trade whatever is left over. This is almost the exact opposite of the current market principle — that you produce primarily for sale, and hope to make enough money to survive on.

 

As I see it, the market does not work, because it does not ensure that everybody gets fed. And if it doesn’t work, there is something radically wrong, both with the mechanisms of distribution and the structures which control them, because more than enough food can be produced.

 

In the Old Testament, the book of Exodus tells the story of manna, the miracle food which Yahweh provided for the Jews as they wandered the desert for 40 years after escaping from slavery in Egypt. Every morning, a coat of dew would appear all around the camp with the manna beneath it in a delicate, powdery film. The Jews were instructed to gather it, morning by morning, each according to his needs. The manna spoiled if it was hoarded, so it was not possible for opportunists to turn it into a commodity for profit or speculation.

 

When you restore "proximity" rather than "distancing", by meeting local needs first, the monoculture and uniformity so characteristic of the dominant system are replaced by as much diversity as possible in small-scale, local operations. Instead of depending on one or two crops that can be wiped out by disease or drought, farmers can ‘inter-crop’, as was done in traditional, nutritional agriculture, to avoid having all their eggs in one basket. Much costly processing, packaging, and advertising could be eliminated, along with trucking and many agricultural inputs such as pesticides and chemical fertilizers.

 

SI: Could such a change be made? You would have to service large urban areas where people are used to eating products in boxes and ‘fresh’ fruits and vegetables trucked in from countries far away.

 

BK: When I first wrote my book about the corporate control of food systems, I couldn’t point to many alternatives. I just described the logic as I saw it. Since then, it has been great fun to see examples of "proximity" emerging in various places. Farmers’ markets, for example, have begun springing up in rural communities, which not only encourage the development of the local economy in a genuine sense, but fulfil the social role of providing direct involvement of the consumer with the producer: people like to know the people who grow their food.

 

Community-shared agriculture is now beginning to take off as well, as in the case of a project in Winnipeg, Manitoba, which began three years ago, when a farmer contracted with 200 families to buy the food he produced. They paid part of their share at the beginning of the season, which financed putting in the crop, and then took whatever produce was in season all through the season, including potatoes, cabbage, and so on, for storage. This was not only economically viable for the farmer, while producing more satisfying work, but very attractive to the consumers: most of them came back the next year, enrolling their uncles, cousins, and other members of their family.

 

That same farmer now knows of several farms in southwestern Manitoba that could serve a portion of the Winnipeg population while keeping the resources in the community, rather than draining them into the head office of some grocery conglomerate far away. As the pieces come together, I envisage people having a family farmer, just as they have a family doctor or dentist. Community land trusts are now beginning to form, to find both the land and farmers to produce for them, at the same time as commercial farmers are beginning to look for other means to survive, such as organic farming.

 

When shared farming is implemented, the whole sense of community begins to change. The people in town realize that their well-being is dependent on the health of the surrounding area, and begin to support local producers to grow food for them rather than big companies producing crops for export. The schools, hospitals, businesses, etc, in the rural communities no longer have to close down. Consumers begin composting or returning their vegetable matter to the farmers when they pick up their fresh vegetables. They also get accustomed to using what is in season, instead of buying what’s available at the supermarket.

 

It is an education, and you find that you can produce sustainability on a small scale, within a bio-region or a segment of a bio-region, which is very exciting. I’m not against us trading back and forth. It’s nice to have oranges. But where bio-regional sustainability is considered part of the equation, there are plenty of home-grown and local crops that can be processed for consumption as well, using the best of modern technology. Small processing plants fitted on semi-trailers can travel around, serving quite a large area for a very small capital outlay. All the community requires is a gathering site with plumbing facilities.

 

Giving the Third World a chance to feed itself

 

SI: Speaking of oranges in Canada, what about the Third World, trade, and the issue of sustainability?

 

BK: Some very interesting projects are going on all over the world, with archeologists and anthropologists paying much more attention to traditional practices and rediscovering almost forgotten forms of agriculture, as in the Andes, for example. But I see direct links between people saying: "We want to feed ourselves here," and the same thing being allowed to occur elsewhere in the world.

 

We should give the Third World a chance to feed itself, and try to dismantle the system which is insisting that it grow for export while people are starving to death. It surprises me how much people of the North still think we have to solve the problems of the less developed countries. We talk about working with these nations but we assume that, because of our techno-tricks, we have all the answers for them. My question is: "Where did their problems come from in the first place? As we were the ones who created most of them, how can we now assume that we have the answers?" If we minded our own business and concentrated on feeding ourselves, other people might have a chance to do the same.

 

The Northern nations have a huge guilt problem to deal with. It may feel good to people when they send off five dollars to buy so many liters of powdered milk for the starving, but that does not really solve anything. It is not going to change the balance of power or the system which currently benefits from it. Supporting the food banks in the developed countries is another case in point: as far as the food conglomerates are concerned, food bank donors simply serve as surrogate buyers for the deprived. The product is disposed of, the money rolls in, and nothing changes.

 

SI: So we can accomplish more by taking responsibility for feeding ourselves and our communities?

 

BK: This may seem like a self-indulgent act, but cleaning up our own back yard is one way to start. It is strange how we have come to regard as normal and reasonable the notion that the only way to eat is first to buy food at the store. Even projects that appear marginal are important — like turning a manicured lawn into a vegetable garden, or doing roof-top urban gardening, or starting community kitchens. They are not going to change the big picture, but they give people a different notion about how they could be living, which can be very powerful. Essentially, we need to analyse what is actually going on. Envisioning the alternatives is usually regarded as unrealistic, but there is nothing more unrealistic than the idea that our current market system is adequate or just, or that we can carry on with it.

 

(Brewster Kneen’s book, From Land to Mouth, is a short and incisive study of corporate control of food systems. He also publishes an excellent monthly newsletter, The Ram’s Horn. Both are available c/o Brewster Kneen, 125 Highfield Road, Toronto, Ontario M4L 2V4, Canada.)

 

From the April 1994 issue of Share International

 

 

 

 

http://cpj.ca/otherwork/More_Topics/index.html?ap=1&x=78994

 

Digging for the roots of the issues

by Janet Somerville

The Canadian Intellectual Property Office has not yet issued a patent on a higher life form. The courts … have taken the position that if Parliament wants to change the Patent Act to allow such patents, it us up to Parliament to do so.

In the meantime there are strong, well-financed interests … pushing to enclose ever more of the public domain through a variety of intellectual property mechanisms.

A broad public discussion about the theory and practice, merits and consequences of intellectual property regimes is overdue…The Forum on Privatization and the Public Domain has been established to promote such a discourse.

These sentences are from a one-page flyer now making the rounds in social action circles in Canada. Though barely born yet, the Forum has already attracted a foster parent (the Sage Centre) and a fascinating advisory board, with interesting activists from Pacific to Atlantic.

Who is behind this new initiative, and what is he really after?

The father of the Forum on Privatization and the Public Domain is a man called Brewster Kneen. He is a hands-on, independent-minded and stubborn intellectual who has been examining and resisting, for all of his adult life, the forms of domination and global control which the world’s power centres keep coming up with.

In 1957, the 24-year-old scion of an upper-middle-class family in the American Midwest walked angrily out of the U.S. Navy and into a life of suspicion of large concentrations of power. Kneen took his Christian faith with him and sharpened it. He studied at New York’s Union Theological Seminary, but did not seek ordination. Instead, resistance to the habit of war—especially to the threat of nuclear war—seemed the most urgent way of confronting idolatrous power; so Kneen began to work for the venerable Fellowship of Reconciliation (F.O.R.).

While “internationalizing” the peace movement, bringing younger leaders from Canada and the U.S. together, Kneen met and then married an energetic Canadian woman, Cathleen Rosenberg. Instead of settling down to a steady job, Kneen and bride headed off to the London School of Economics where he set out to deepen his understanding of the functioning of global capitalism and its ethics, or lack thereof.

In 1965, F.O.R. attracted Kneen to Canada as its director. Some of the Canadian anti-war networks caught the young organizer’s attention. He decided Canada didn’t need F.O.R. as much as it needed to sharpen its homegrown tools of demystification. He resigned from F.O.R. and with Cathleen and a handful of justice-hungry Christians, organized his first Canadian institution: CENSIT (Centre for the Study of Institutions and Theology). CENSIT emerged out of a series of Sunday night Bible studies in the Kneen’s living room that persisted until the end of the ‘60s. By this time, son Jamie and daughter Rebecca had been born.

If you’re looking at structures of domination through biblical lenses, you start to wonder about big cities. In a much-pondered move, the Kneens left Toronto in 1971 and bought a faded farm in Pictou County, Nova Scotia. Teaching themselves from scratch, they brought the farm to flourishing life. They acquired sheep, improved the land, organized a Lamb Marketing Cooperative and a farmer-owned co-op abattoir.

But they were theorists as well as doers. They kept thinking about how economies and people get “alienated,” locally and globally. And they wanted networks and communities to think with—not easily available on the near-empty slopes of Mt. Thom. So in 1980 they started a newsletter/journal called The Ram's Horn (yes, for the story of the fall of Jericho in Joshua 6:5.) The Ram’s Horn is still blowing strong, published now on the other side of Canada, from a small organic farm near Sorrento, B.C. where the Kneens are living.

The Kneens set out to resist war and turned to farming as one of the essential works of peace. As they dug deeper—literally and metaphorically—they discovered that the interests, methods and mindsets that finance and manufacture high-tech weapons of war are likewise moving to control and re-engineer agriculture. Thus began Brewster Kneen’s series of radically critical books. From Land to Mouth: Understanding the Food System came first, in 1989 (a second edition can be downloaded from www.ramshorn.ca). Then came two books on Cargill, the grain-trading company that controls an awesome percentage of the world’s transportable food supply. As agricultural biotechnology was being wooed to become, as Kneen puts it, “the mistress of private interests,” his focus shifted to Monsanto Inc. and other promoters of agricultural biotech. The Rape of Canola appeared in 1992 and Farmageddon: Food and the Culture of Biotechnology thundered into print in 1997.

Kneen is such a tenacious and original researcher that even people who think his worldview is utopian (or merely contrarian) can’t help taking his conclusions seriously. Canada’s Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council has twice recognized him as an “independent scholar” and funded his work on technological determinism. York University made him a Senior Fellow of their Faculty of Environmental Studies. His books have created alternative intellectual space for people to question the corporate/governmental status quo, especially where the world’s food supply is concerned.

Meanwhile, those who suspect that his worldview is profoundly biblical tend to think of Brewster Kneen as a prophet, not unlike the inspired and curmudgeonly biblical Amos. Yet as the man ages (he has begun his eighth decade), his power to convoke new alliances quietly grows. The Advisory Board of his new Forum is a study in appropriate diversity.

Of the Forum on Privatization and the Public Domain, Kneen says: “We are creating a public voice … on the full range of issues raised by the relentless expansion of what are considered to be patentable products, processes, discoveries, inventions … or what is commonly referred to as intellectual property, and the instruments of privatization, particularly patents and copyright. This advancing domain stretches from seeds to software, from drugs to human genetic material, from Traditional Knowledge to poetry and music … A strong public voice is essential if the public domain is to retain its health and strength.”

Brewster Kneen, the Forum’s director, can be contacted at S6, C27, RR#1, Sorrento, BC V0E 2W0. Or by email.

Journalist and ecumenist Janet Somerville was pro tem editor of the Catalyst in 2004-5.

 

 

Invisible Giant by Brewster Kneen

 

Product Details

• ISBN: 0745319599
  ISBN-13: 9780745319599
• Format: Hardcover, 232pp
• Publisher: Pluto Press
• Edition Description: 2ND
• Edition Number: 2

  From the Publisher

  * No hold's barred exposé of the world's largest food company
  
  * Uncovers predatory activities and unfettered monopoly that effect every American consumer
  
  Transnational corporations straddle the globe, largely unseen by the public. Cargill, with its headquarters in the US, is the largest private corporation in North America, and possibly in the world. Cargill trades in food commodities and produces a great many of them: grains, flour, malt, corn, cotton, salt, vegetable oils, fruit juices, animal feeds, and meat. Among its most profitable activities is its trade in the global financial markets. There are few national economies unaffected by Cargill's activities, and few eaters in the North whose food does not pass through Cargill's hands at some point. Yet Cargill remains largely invisible to most people and accountable to no one outside the company.
  
  This is the second edition of an explosive book that breaks the silence on the true extent of Cargill's power and influence worldwide -- its ability to shape national policies, and the implications of these strategies for all of us. Thoroughly revised and updated, 'Invisible Giant' offers shocking new evidence of Cargill's activities since the book was first published in 1995. Kneen examines how it has succeeded in eliminating competition by undertaking joint ventures with virtually all of its supposed competitors. He shows how this massive corporation continues to acquire and divest, extending its grip even further in what amounts to almost total control of the global food system.
  

  Synopsis

  * No hold's barred exposé of the world's largest food company
  * Uncovers predatory activities and unfettered monopoly that effect every American consumer
  Transnational corporations straddle the globe, largely unseen by the public. Cargill, with its headquarters in the US, is the largest private corporation in North America, and possibly in the world. Cargill trades in food commodities and produces a great many of them: grains, flour, malt, corn, cotton, salt, vegetable oils, fruit juices, animal feeds, and meat. Among its most profitable activities is its trade in the global financial markets. There are few national economies unaffected by Cargill's activities, and few eaters in the North whose food does not pass through Cargill's hands at some point. Yet Cargill remains largely invisible to most people and accountable to no one outside the company. This is the second edition of an explosive book that breaks the silence on the true extent of Cargill's power and influence worldwide — its ability to shape national policies, and the implications of these strategies for all of us. Thoroughly revised and updated, 'Invisible Giant' offers shocking new evidence of Cargill's activities since the book was first published in 1995. Kneen examines how it has succeeded in eliminating competition by undertaking joint ventures with virtually all of its supposed competitors. He shows how this massive corporation continues to acquire and divest, extending its grip even further in what amounts to almost total control of the global food system.
  

  From The Critics

  Boycott Quarterly

  People who are concerned about the influence of corporations on civic institutions, on economic security, on the well-being of the environment, and who are interested in working to change that influence could hardly find a better primer on corporate thinking and conduct than this book.
  

  Forbes Magazine

  Cargill's secret is hiring good people and giving them a real challenge, so they'll rise to it, says Brewster Kneen, author of the recently published second edition of "Invisible Giant". One trader in his mid-20s was handed $30 million and told to build a bond portfolio from scratch. He did.
  People who are concerned about the influence of corporations on civic institutions, on economic security, on the well-being of the environment, and who are interested in working to change that influence could hardly find a better primer on corporate thinking and conduct than this book.
  

  Catholic New Times

  Brewster Kneen's strong analysis of Cargill should be required reading for anyone interested in how we get our food.
  

  Republican News

  An excellent book which draws readers into an Orwellian 1984 environment and leaves shivers. Don't read it alone.
  

Review by Richard A. Levins
Invisible Giant: Cargill and Its Transnational Strategies, Second Edition

In the December 9, 2002, issue of Forbes, Cargill was once again listed as the largest privately-held corporation in the United States. With sales of over $50 billion and close to 100,000 employees, Cargill is also among the top 20 of all U. S. corporations, both privately held and publicly traded: Procter & Gamble, AOL Time Warner, and Merrill Lynch would each come after Cargill on such a list. Cargill is also twice as big as Archer Daniels Midland, the company Forbes named its closest rival.

The magazine's feature story on Cargill begins by describing the company as "the most dominating-and obsessively private-company on the planet." Soon after, Forbes caught me off guard when it asked this question: "Is Cargill too big for the good of the country?" The article leaves room for farmers to answer "yes" to that question. Cargill's new look of being the farmer's partner and a source of solutions is offset by a large sidebar on how turkey farmers in Texas are suing Cargill for contract problems and violations of antitrust law. [American] NFU's Thomas Buis is quoted as saying that agribusiness concentration will turn farmers into "low-wage contractees of big corporations." Forbes itself muses that, for some farmers, "Cargill itself may become their biggest problem."

These are tougli words from a respected business publication. Should farmers turn to Cargill for solutions, or beware of its growing influence in all phases of our food system? The Forbes article makes reference to Brewster Kneen and the new edition of his book Invisible Giant. To put it mildly, Kneen advises considerable caution when dealing with Cargill.

Early on, Kneen challenges Cargill's claim that its global strategies are intended to help both farmers and consumers get a better price. Then he says: "The question farmers have to ask is, why should Cargill want the primary producer to get a better price?" By the end of his book, Kneen argues that "It is hard to imagine a place for Cargill, or any other food transnational" in a world of healthy, diverse communities of any sort, farmers or otherwise.

This book does more than describe Cargill and its history. Kneen carefully lays out his case for the company acting in coordinated and sustained ways to "create agricultural policy from the bottom up." Cargill's actions are presented as part of a grand plan to reshape the food and farming system into a vast industrial process that benefits the company far more than it does producers, consumers, or the economies of any single nation. He paints a picture of a few large grain companies, Cargill biggest of all, that give lip service to market forces but, in truth, "do not wish to compete, either intentionally or by accident." He warns farmers: "Pity those who believe the propaganda of competition."

Much of the material is from seemingly exhaustive studies of Cargill's own offerings, newspapers, business periodicals, books, and enough other material to account for over 200 footnotes. Kneen also describes his visits to many parts of the globe and his encounters with Cargill (often powerful, seldom highly profiled) at every turn in his journeys. There are detailed chapters on everything from cotton to salt, from soybeans to fertilizer, and from meat animals to orange juice. Along the way, he takes his readers on an eye-opening journey to South America, home of the corporation's second largest division, Cargill Brazil. While there, he asks farmers how they can hope to benefit when the same company is so heavily involved in buying the products of farmers on both sides of the equator.

Toward the end of his book, Kneen gives a broad sketch of Cargill becoming involved with everything from farmer cooperatives to my own employer, the University of Minnesota. Should farmers jump on the partnership bandwagon, or take Kneen's advice to be mistrustful of such arrangements? It is one of the most important questions many farmers, their cooperatives, and their commodity organizations must face.

 

Farmageddon: Food and the Culture of Biotechnology by Brewster Kneen

 

Product Details

• ISBN: 0865713944
  ISBN-13: 9780865713949
• Format: Paperback, 230pp
• Publisher: New Society Publishers

  From the Publisher

  Farmageddon: Late-twentieth-century conflict apparently over control of crops and food, with prospects of turning into the final struggle between the forces of life and the forces of death early in the twenty-first century - from The Farmageddon Lexicon. Farmageddon lifts the veil of secrecy to reveal exactly what is going on down on the farm and on the supermarket shelf. Cutting through both corporate rhetoric and government misinformation, it lays bare the dark culture that permeates biotechnology, as well as who stands to benefit from this Faustian tinkering with the very stuff of life. Unashamedly critical, Farmageddon deals head-on with the 21st century equivalent of the nuclear industry. It also demonstrates that biotechnology can be resisted. It will appeal to all who value healthy food and a healthy society.
  

  From The Critics

  Don Gayton - Canadian Geographic

  The apocalyptic title of Brewster Kneen's analysis of genetically engineered crops and foods sets the tone for his bold polemic on this divisive issue. The former sheep farmer turned writer and food activist shows how biotechnology multinationals have shrewdly kept the public in the dark over what is really happening on the farm and in the grocery store. While the writing is at times erratic, this emotional grassroots call to action is an eye-opener.
  

  Publishers Weekly

  Supporters of biotechnology claim that genetically engineered food is the only hope for feeding the world's hungry. On the contrary, asserts Canadian environmentalist Kneen in a hard-hitting, thoughtful critique. If the biotech industry gets its way, he argues, five or six giant corporations will ultimately gain control (via patents on seeds) of all major commercial crops planted anywhere on earth. This enforced monoculture production, Kneen contends, will jeopardize the self-reliance and food security of many nations. If that sounds paranoid, Kneen points out that a handful of global supermarket chains now dominate food distribution--and their shelves are increasingly stocked with unlabeled, genetically altered potatoes, corn, soybeans and other products whose long-term health effects on humans are unknown. Publisher of the magazine The Ram's Horn, devoted to food systems analysis, Kneen brands as a whitewash the FDA's refusal to impose labeling requirements on milk produced by cows fed recombinant bovine growth hormone; flimsy evidence and circular logic, he says, conceal the fact that this milk may pose real health hazards. He makes a forceful case that biotechnology's creation and owning of novel life forms for commercial purposes is unethical, inherently unsafe, born of a hubristic attitude of control and domination over nature. His up-to-date report exposes how the U.S., Canada, Australia and New Zealand are attempting to change the rules of international trade so that companies like Nestl , Monsanto and Unilever will be able to move bioengineered food across borders--and down our throats--without hindrance. This is an important book for anyone seriously concerned about the nature of the food they eat. (Aug.) Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.
  

 

Without our knowledge, understanding, or consent, "life-science" conglomerates are genetically engineering food plants for corporate profit with little concern for our health or the effect on the environment.

This critical and timely book reveals what's really happening down on the farm: the genetically engineered products that are subtly being introduced into our supermarkets, healthfood stores, and home-gardening outlets. More alarming are the sinister "terminator" technology, and the profound risks inherent in releasing genetically engineered organisms into the environment.

Without presuming a scientific background of his readers, Kneen provides a multidisciplinary account of what biotechnolgy is and how it is affecting the world's food supply, where it came from, the direction it's heading, and how to resist it. Kneen persuasively argues that genetic engineering has been born from a western belief system in progress, industrialization, and technology. Enthusiasm for genetic engineering is not universal, he says, and it does not have to be accepted.

 

 

 

 

From Land to Mouth,Second Helping:Understanding the Food System
PDF: download here (986 KB)

Since it was first published in 1989, From Land to Mouth has played an important role in the development of visionary alternatives to the industrial, capitalist food system it so carefully describes. The book provides a clear and precise analysis of this global system—from barnyard to boardroom to biotechnology. Its analysis of the major characteristics of that system—distancing, uniformity, and continuous flow—has encouraged readers to think in terms of the opposites: proximity, diversity, and sustainability (balance). The Second Helping describes both the system and the alternatives to it which are beginning to appear—alternatives which build on a vision of a food system designed to feed people rather than to merely produce corporate profit.

Comments on the first edition:

"...a book that could only be written by someone with both the detachment that allows a scholar to see patterns in the big picture, and a passion that comes from intimate involvement with nature, farmers and rural life." (Cathy Holtslander, Briarpatch)

"Kneen's forceful analysis and passionate arguments are likely to become very influential ... This book is essentially a plea for a more rational, humane approach to the production of food." (David Lewis Stein, Toronto Star)

Published by NC Press Limited, Toronto, second edition (revised and updated) 1993. NOTE: Now out of print for good, but we have made this available as a free PDF: download here (986 KB). We hope people will make good use of it in their work for just and sustainable food systems.

 

 

 

From Land to Mouth,Second Helping:Understanding the Food System
PDF: download here (986 KB)

Since it was first published in 1989, From Land to Mouth has played an important role in the development of visionary alternatives to the industrial, capitalist food system it so carefully describes. The book provides a clear and precise analysis of this global system—from barnyard to boardroom to biotechnology. Its analysis of the major characteristics of that system—distancing, uniformity, and continuous flow—has encouraged readers to think in terms of the opposites: proximity, diversity, and sustainability (balance). The Second Helping describes both the system and the alternatives to it which are beginning to appear—alternatives which build on a vision of a food system designed to feed people rather than to merely produce corporate profit.

Comments on the first edition:

"...a book that could only be written by someone with both the detachment that allows a scholar to see patterns in the big picture, and a passion that comes from intimate involvement with nature, farmers and rural life." (Cathy Holtslander, Briarpatch)

"Kneen's forceful analysis and passionate arguments are likely to become very influential ... This book is essentially a plea for a more rational, humane approach to the production of food." (David Lewis Stein, Toronto Star)

Published by NC Press Limited, Toronto, second edition (revised and updated) 1993. NOTE: Now out of print for good, but we have made this available as a free PDF: download here (986 KB). We hope people will make good use of it in their work for just and sustainable food systems.

 

 

 

 

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