Edition 27: Food Chain

We are what we eat, and in an era of global warming, food is the canary in the mine.

Food prices are rising, droughts and storms are affecting farmers and the global model of food production is under challenge.

Food Chain explores the dimension of this looming problem, and our complex relationship with the food we eat and the food we drool over.

The source, supply and price of food is likely to change significantly. Policies to reduce the impact of climate change will have a profound impact on the food supply here and around the world. Food is particularly vulnerable to global warming. Droughts, storms, pestilence and the increasing cost of fuel are already taking a toll on the reliable supply of affordable food.

Food Chain explores the dimension of this looming problem, and our complex relationship with the food we eat and the food we drool over.

In a stimulating lead essay Margaret Simons explores the complexity of the Murray Darling river crisis and its impact on the security of Australia's food bowl. This essay will provide a new framework to thinking about sustainable food production and contemporary policy debates on food security. Ranging from the farm to the fridge, this essay will change the way you think about what you put in your mouth.

Food Chain will range widely across the whole food chain from farm gate to supermarket shelves with a national and global perspective. It will bring the abstract discussion of global warming to the dinner table and bring it to life with new urgency and immediacy.

This issue promises to be an agenda setting contribution to the most urgent discussion in Australia at the beginning of 2010: what is to be done about climate change and how it will affect us all.

Book Details: RRP: $24.95 / Publication date: February 2010 / ISBN: 9781921520860 / Extent: 264 pp / Format: Paperback (234 x 153mm)