The War in the Country: How the Fight to Save Rural Life Will Shape Our Future - Softcover

Pawlick, Thomas F.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1553653408 ISBN 13: 9781553653400

Publisher: Greystone Books, 2009

Synopsis

Rural life in North America has changed dramatically since the days of the family farm, when people worked the same land for generations, let their cows graze in pastures and their chickens scratch in dirt, and sold their produce locally. The few remaining small farmers now struggle to survive, strangled by debt and a rash of complex regulations designed to drive them out of business. In their place are corporate-backed factory farms with little understanding of, or sympathy for, rural life. But the corporate and political interests determined to make this life extinct are meeting with fierce resistance. In this passionate and persuasive book, writer and farmer Thomas Pawlick uses his own rural community as a microcosm for the battle between industrial agriculture and local farming — a clash whose outcome will determine the future of rural life in North America — and also the quality and sustainability of our food, water, soil, and air.

About this title

About the Author

Thomas F. Pawlick has more than thirty-five years of experience as a journalist and editor, specializing in science, environmental, and agricultural reporting. He is a three-time winner of the Canadian Science Writers' Association Award and received a National Magazine Award for his agricultural reporting. Pawlick holds a masters degree in farm journalism and is the author of ten books, including the best-selling The End of Food. He served six years as chief editor of Ceres magazine, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization's flagship publication. He currently lives on a 150-acre farm in eastern Ontario.

Review

Here, Pawlick chronicles how global forces—from rapacious mining developments to factory farming to poor tax policy—are affecting the countryside for the worse in his own eastern Ontario backyard. A lament for an agricultural nation—and a passionate call to arms. —Green Living

(2009-10-01)

Reading The War in the Country was very worthwhile for the stories of tension, trauma, cultural clashes and urban economics that are forcing change in rural areas . . . And give Thomas Pawlick a nod for believing that a wide alliance of interests is necessary if country folk are to have a say in managing the all-pervasive urban influence. —Alternatives General

(2010-04-01)

Thomas Pawlick's new book The War in the Country: How the Fight to save Rural Life will shape our Future is a rip snorting, page turner filled with intrigue, violence, deception, and greed. —Rabble.ca

(2010-05-15)

An impassioned expose of the complicated politics and players behind why our food choices in Canada continue to shrink or are driven into an underground economy. —Canadian Geographic

(2010-07-01)

Edition details

• Publisher: Greystone Books
• Publication date: 2009
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1553653408
• ISBN 13: 9781553653400
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 320