Tomorrow's Biodiversity

Vandana Shiva started out as a physicist, is now a crusader for biodiversity. She has a terrific clear and direct style.This short book tipped me over the edge, to an anti -GMO [geneticaly modied organisms] position. In the long-term GMO's may do wonders, but in the short term they are instruments in the hands of Global Capital, used to steal from the people. VS has a very important take on "yield" - the appropriated bottom lands "yield" less food and fibre, but they do yield profits for the corporations - this a is truly radical concept. Her stories of hundreds of farmer suicides in the wake of modern monoculture introduction are chilling, as are the dangers we are piling up by relying on vast areas of identically vulnerable crops. Read this book and be changed.Beyond the book:A recent story suggests cause for hope. In Honduras, farmers on the slopes use grass berms on the contours and legumes to improve the soil. Their production is more valuable than that of the valley flats. The hill farming takes labour, so Capital cant take it over. This looks like the way ahead for the majority of the world, deserted by Capital. A key to the method is use of the correct varieties - winged beans the most prominent, but different altitudes benefit from different legumes. Information on varieties is crucial. Reports from Africa also suggest that legumes plus controlled animal grazing and fodder collection are making successful small farms . A truck to market can put the farm into the cash economy.