Industrial Agriculture Doesn’t “Feed the World”: Debunking Common Myths and Misconceptions

We’re delighted to announce that we’ve published our companion guide to Rich Appetites Episode 1 (The Foundation)!

This guide is available in three formats: as a page on the film website, a Google Doc, and a PDF (available for download on the webpage).

The companion guide goes into more detail on topics covered in the first film, diving deeper into the research and analysis backing up the various claims we make in the film.

This guide specifically breaks down and debunks three myths:

1) The US has the most productive and efficient agricultural system in the world

It is true that US agriculture is highly productive—at least, according to conventional metrics that focus exclusively on crop yields. But these increased yields have not and cannot solve hunger and food insecurity, which are much deeper economic and structural problems. Additionally, the focus on crop productivity has led to an extremely inefficient allocation of ecological and financial resources. Read more…

2) The Green Revolution reduced world hunger

The Green Revolution did dramatically increase the yields of key cereal crops in countries where it operated. But, like in the US, increased yields did not eliminate hunger, either globally or in Green Revolution countries. This is because food access depends not only on the sheer quantity of food produced, but also on its economic availability. Additionally, many of the yield gains attributed to the Green Revolution can in fact be attributed to other factors. Read more…

3) AGRA is helping African farmers.
AGRA has likely benefited some farmers in Africa (especially those who are wealthier, larger-scale, and male commercial farmers), but has overlooked and/or actively harmed many more–not to mention food and farming systems as a whole. Read more…
Posted in Agra Watch Blog Posts, Agra Watch News, News, Slider.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *