At Issue Corporate Farming

Introducing the second edition of Agriculture Law in Canada the only Canadian treatise on agricultural law offering comprehensive, national coverage of the legal issues facing this critical industry. Farming and its related industries have undergone many changes since the first edition was released in 1999. This new edition has been significantly updated to reflect the statutory and case law developments of the past 20 years. This revised edition of Agriculture Law in Canada offers a thoroughly updated examination of the major topics in this practice area.

Corporate farms have solved so many of the worlds problems. In addition to making healthy food accessible and affordable to more people, they provide jobs in communities that sorely need them. But do corporations have too much power over food? Do they benefit from unfair tax breaks? Are their profit-driven practices hurting the environment, perhaps irreparably? And what does their success mean for the family farmer? This thought-provoking volume tackles these t

Americans decry the decline of family farming but stand by helplessly as industrial agribusiness takes over. The prevailing sentiment is that family farms should survive for important social, ethical, and economic reasons. But will they? This timely book exposes the biases in American farm policies that irrationally encourage expansion, biases evident in federal commodity programs, income tax provisions, and subsidized credit services. Family Farming also exposes internal conflicts, particularly the conflict between the private interests of individual farmers and the public interest in family farming as a whole. It challenges the assumption that bigger is better, critiques the technological basis of modern agriculture, and calls for farming practices that are ethical, economical, and ecologically sound. The alternative policies discussed in this book could yet save the family farm, and the ways and means of saving it are argued here with special urgency. ø This Bison Books edition includes a new introduction by the author providing a more national perspective, underscoring the repetitive cycles of American agriculture over the decade, and assessing the major policy issues that have dominated agriculture in recent years.

"We have given up to the agribusiness corporations a crucial part of our responsibility as human beings and we must now think of ways to take it back." - Wendell Berry, from the Foreword In this eye-opening book, Sierra Club Director Ken Midkiff exposes the dangers posed by corporate control of agriculture (agribusiness)--to our health, and to the health of the nation's economy, security, and the environment. The Meat You Eat explores the current practices of the corporations taking over the raising and slaughtering of farm animals (and farmed fish, such as salmon). These companies use a model that has transformed livestock farming from quality-driven family-owned operations into big businesses concerned with volume, efficiency, uniformity, and profits above all. Midkiff reveals the true cost of agribusiness on all levels-environmental, financial, moral, legal, and medical-balancing startling truths with practical solutions. Rather than advocate a vegan or vegetarian diet, Midkiff argues that using and supporting local farmers will improve the quality of life for us all, as well as for the animals whose meat we eat. Complete with resource sections about where to find local farmers and lists of agribusiness culprits, the book encourages us to take an active interest in what we put on our plates and in our mouths, and use the power of our pocketbooks to make it clear that our health, our environment, and our communities are of vital importance. With a foreword by Wendell Berry, hailed by The New York Times Books Review as the "great moral essayist of our day," The Meat You Eat is an informative and ringing call to arms.