48 pages • 1 hour read
Tom StandageAn Edible History of Humanity
Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 2008A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Part 6-EpilogueChapter Summaries & Analyses
Part 6: “Food, Population, and Development”
Part 6, Chapter 11 Summary: “Feeding the World”
To feed ever-increasing populations, botanists and other scientists have long worked to understand how plants grow and how their yields might be increased. Understanding the role of nitrogen in particular was key to producing enough food to meet the nutritional needs of the global population. In the 18th century, scientists discovered nitrogen. They understood that it played an important part in sustaining life, but they could not understand how. Experiments with several types of fertilizers revealed that an unknown chemical process helped transform nitrogen in the atmosphere into something that could help plants thrive. In the 19th century, scientists determined that microbes in the soil interacted with the roots of legumes to help capture (or “fix”) nitrogen. For centuries, farmers understood that growing crops like lentils, peas, and beans helped soil, but they did not understand the science behind it. Guano from South America proved rich in nitrogen, so it was shipped to Britain to fertilize fields; however, there was a limited supply. Scientists needed to find a way to manufacture fertilizer synthetically.
The discovery of ammonia in 1909 paved the way for the use of fertilizers that would alleviate the need for rotating crops. The green revolution followed, contributing to the population boom; in the 20th century, the human population swelled from 1.6 billion to 6 billion. Nitrogen and hydrogen were heated at extremely high temperatures with an iron catalyst. After refining the process and calculations, ammonia could soon be produced at a large scale. However, the First World War shifted ammonia production from fertilizer to explosives. Germany had to choose between feeding its people or fueling its political endeavors. It chose the latter.
In addition to fertilizer, new seed varieties were needed for higher yields. When adding nitrogen to the soil, farmers soon found that their plants produced heavy fruits that weighed down the stalks. Seeds for shorter stalks were soon developed to combat this problem. These varieties took less time to grow, and American agronomist Norman Borlaug suggested they could be used in impoverished countries for food supply. This meant that crops like calorie-dense wheat and maize replaced indigenous plants.
Part 6, Chapter 12 Summary: “Paradoxes of Plenty”
For most of human history, people were poor. The green revolution, however, changed everything. Average income increased, as did populations, but only in some countries. Industrialization meant that some countries experienced unfettered success while others experienced extreme poverty. Standage argues that agricultural productivity is related to economic development and industrialization. Countries with inefficient agricultural production due to many factors are less likely to move toward industrialization.
As Standage examines the major trends in economics and agriculture throughout history, he notes that Asia was the wealthiest region for most of the world’s economic history. However, the industrialization of countries like the United States led to an economic decline in Asia. Then, at the end of the 20th century, Asia experienced an economic boom, solidifying it as one of the world’s fastest-growing economies and populations. China is expected to surpass the United States economy by 2035. Standage explains that this shift is due to China’s renewed agricultural productivity brought on by the green revolution.
Today, population growth across the globe is slowing. In examining this decline, Standage raises the theory that industrialization always leads to a population boom that later falls as people become wealthier and have fewer children: “Wealth, it seems, is a powerful contraceptive” (228). Standage interprets the Malthusian trap as the reality that the answers to issues with population and food production will always lead to more problems later. In this case, he notes that a decrease in population presents its own set of problems, including who will care for a massive aging population.
The green revolution answered many questions about how to handle the food supply for global population growth, but it is not without its own set of issues. Climate change, nitrogen runoff, and the increased use of pesticides contribute to a complex web of issues that scientists and leaders must now face.
Epilogue Summary: “Ingredients of the Future”
In the Epilogue, Standage considers what the future of agriculture may look like. Near the North Pole, the Svalbard Global Seed Vault comprises the largest global seed bank. Standage explains that the seed bank exists to alleviate short- and long-term threats. Climate change, nuclear war, and other existential threats to humankind may make it necessary to begin once more from nothing, and the seed bank may serve to restart agriculture. Furthermore, the seeds stored have endless opportunity. For example, in recent history, one stored wheat variety originally deemed useless later proved to be invaluable in crossbreeding to create a breed resistant to stripe rust.
Part 6-Epilogue Analysis
In this final section, Standage shows how innovation always has two sides, positive and negative, an idea that he carries throughout the work and into his exploration of Agriculture as a Destructive Force. During World War I, Germany had to choose what to do with ammonia: fertilize agricultural lands for food production or produce explosives. Germany chose the latter, leading to widespread starvation. Standage offers this example on the foundation of his previous chapters, which emphasized the role agriculture has played in fomenting and winning wars; the effect is a reader primed to recognize that ammonia is not the only aspect of agriculture at work in this situation. Standage explains that Germany’s decision, though, captures the dual nature of innovation more broadly. In this instance, the discovery of ammonia, brought about in part by the effort to help feed a rapidly growing population, served instead as a tool for death and destruction. His point is that agriculture, far from being a simplistic marker of man’s advancement, is also an innovation with an ample dark side.
The duality of agriculture is emphasized further in this section as Standage presents his own version of the Malthusian trap, one that complicates the theme of The Coevolution of Humans and Plants. Namely, Standage argues that each solution to a problem presents its own set of new issues, creating a more complicated web of problems and solutions. While the green revolution helped eliminate pests and reintroduce nitrogen in the soil, it also led to nutrient-rich plants that toppled under the weight of their own fruits. Thus new seed varieties needed to be developed that could withstand the weight of larger fruits. Wealth and food surplus eventually leads to population decline, already occurring in the 21st century. Standage argues that this decline will also create new problems as countries grapple with a large aging population and a decrease in workers. As humans change plants, they change themselves, but those cumulative changes do not necessarily represent progress.
Agriculture as Power takes on a new meaning when considered within the context of these issues and the looming threat of climate change. For humans to continue to flourish and maintain power on Earth, they must meet the agricultural challenges they face. Standage suggests that a new green revolution will replace the old, emphasizing sustainable techniques and ways of mitigating the effects of climate change. Although he argues that agriculture functioned as a destructive force for the planet and its people, he maintains that agriculture may nonetheless hold the key to future success. Throughout the text, Standage highlights the opposing viewpoints for issues in agriculture, and he emphasizes that farming has brought both life and destruction at every point: “There are no easy answers” (233). In the Epilogue, he describes worst-case scenarios for the future of humanity, but he also suggests that agriculture may be able to adapt to new challenges.
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