“Everyone in the food business needs to read this book. . . . [A] lively and superbly written polemic.”—Joel Salatin, co-founder of Polyface Farm
Named the Inc. Non-Obvious Book Awards "Best Books of 2023"
A defense of agroecological, small-scale farming and a robust critique of an industrialized future.
One of the few voices to challenge
The Guardian's George Monbiot on the future of food and farming (and the restoration of nature) is academic, farmer and author of
A Small Farm Future Chris Smaje. In
Saying NO to a Farm-Free Future, Smaje presents his defense of small-scale farming and a robust critique of Monbiot’s vision for an urban and industrialized future.
Responding to Monbiot’s portrayal of an urban, high-energy, industrially manufactured food future as the answer to our current crises, and its unchallenged acceptance within the environmental discourse, Smaje was compelled to challenge Monbiot’s evidence and conclusions. At the same time, Smaje presents his powerful counterargument – a low-carbon agrarian localism that puts power in the hands of local communities, not high-tech corporates.
In the ongoing fight for our food future, this book will help you to understand the difference between a congenial, ecological living and a dystopian, factory-centered existence. A must-read!
"Chris Smaje has laid down an indictment – as unremitting as it is undeniable – that cuts through the jargon-filled, techno-worshipping agricultural futurists who promise silver-bullet fixes for having your cake and eating it too. This brilliant and compelling book is at once hopeful and persuasive about the future of food."—Dan Barber, chef at Blue Hill and author of The Third Plate
âEUR¿If you want real food, food security and a truly biodiverse countryside, please, please read this book.âEUR(TM) John Lewis-Stempel, author of Meadowland âEUR¿[A] timely response to those who are constructing a dystopia of farms without farmers, food without farms, while promoting more industrialisation of the food system.âEUR(TM) Vandana Shiva, activist and author of Terra VivaâEUR¿Brilliant and compelling âEUR¿ at once hopeful and persuasive about the future of food.âEUR(TM) Dan Barber, chef at Blue HillNamed the Inc. Non-Obvious Book Awards 'Best Books of 2023'Saying NO to a Farm-Free Future is a powerful and timely response to the ongoing search for our sustainable food future. In the face of ongoing food, energy and environmental crises, Chris Smaje, farmer and social scientist, has become one of the most prescient voices on the future of farming. In his new book, he explores the false promises and unconsidered consequences of food techno-solutions advocated by ecomodernists like George Monbiot, arguing that we should not divorce ourselves from rural living and must embrace a future that includes farming. Saying NO to a Farm-Free Future passionately argues for scaling up the pro-nature principles of low-energy, biodiverse and agroecological farming, and for putting the power back into the hands of small-scale farmers and producers, and the local communities that support them. âEUR¿A case for a rural agricultural landscape that delivers food without wrecking the planetâEUR(TM). Jake Fiennes, author of Land HealerâEUR¿Everyone in the food business needs to read this âEUR¿ lively and superbly written polemic.âEUR(TM) Joel Salatin, co-founder of Polyface Farm
