Maria Rodale’s book, Organic Manifesto: How Organic Farming Can Heal Our Planet, Feed the World, and Keep Us Safe, presents a clear blueprint for change. In plain language she explains
the dangers of chemical farming, the misconceptions of organic farming, and
calls out the government on its irresponsibility towards our health and
well-being in favor of corporate influence.
“Farmers are caught on a treadmill” she writes in her
compassionate defense of many farmer’s reluctance to return to organic farming.
They and their land have become dependent on the chemicals, GMO seeds, and tax
breaks generously offered for chemical farming. She offers two scenarios – one
of a farmer trapped in a chemically dependent farming system and another that
follows an organic model of farming. Painting these two drastically different
pictures she calls to task all those who say it can’t be done profitably. She
further disputes the tale told by big business that the world would starve
without chemical farming.
