Shattering

Name: Shattering
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ISBN: 9781632261601

Food, Politics, and the Loss of Genetic Diversity

Cary Fowler, Pat Mooney

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Paperback

Forthcoming
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English

Easton Studio Press
21 May 2026

Social & cultural history; Central government policies; Biology, life sciences; Genetics (non-medical); Agriculture & farming

It was through control of the shattering of wild seeds that humans first domesticated plants. Now control over those very plants threatens to shatter the world's food supply, as loss of genetic diversity sets the stage for widespread hunger.

Large-scale agriculture has come to favor uniformity in food crops. More than 7,000 U.S. apple varieties once grew in American orchards; 6,000 of them are no longer available. Every broccoli variety offered through seed catalogs in 1900 has now disappeared. As the international genetics supply industry absorbs seed companies-with nearly one thousand takeovers since 1970-this trend toward uniformity seems likely to continue; and as third world agriculture is brought in line with international business interests, the gene pools of humanity's most basic foods are threatened.

The consequences are more than culinary. Without the genetic diversity from which farmers traditionally breed for resistance to diseases, crops are more susceptible to the spread of pestilence. Tragedies like the Irish Potato Famine may be thought of today as ancient history; yet the U.S. corn blight of 1970 shows that technologically based agribusiness is a breeding ground for disaster.

Shattering reviews the development of genetic diversity over 10,000 years of human agriculture, then exposes its loss in our lifetime at the hands of political and economic forces. The possibility of crisis is real; this book shows that it may not be too late to avert it.

This book was originally published in 1990 and remains as relevant today as it was then.

By: Cary Fowler, Pat Mooney
Imprint: Easton Studio Press
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 228mm, Width: 152mm,
ISBN: 9781632261601
ISBN 10: 163226160X
Pages: 280
Publication Date: 21 May 2026
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Forthcoming

CONTENTS Preface to the 2025 Edition ix Introduction xiii A Word About Varieties xix PART ONE LEGACY OF DIVERSITY ONE Origins of Agriculture 3 TWO Development of Diversity 17 THREE Value of Diversity 38 FOUR Genetic Erosion: Losing Diversity 49 FIVE Tropical Forests 82 PART TWO GENETIC TECHNOLOGY AND POLITICS SIX Rise of the Genetics Supply Industry 105 SEVEN Enter Biotechnology 127 EIGHT Global Conservation Begins 133 NINE Politics of Genetic Resource Control 157 TEN Responsibility and Commitment 181 PART THREE REFERENCE MATERIAL Notes 203 Acknowledgments 237 Index 241

Cary is the President of the Food Security Leadership Council. He was U.S. Special Envoy for Global Food Security in the Biden Administration. He headed the first UN assessment of the state of the world’s plant genetic resources and oversaw negotiations for an associated 150-country Global Plan of Action. Considered the “father” of the Svalbard Global Seed Vault, he is the author of Seeds on Ice about this initiative. He has an earned doctorate from Uppsala University in Sweden and several honorary doctorates including from the Norwegian University of Life Sciences where he is Professor Emeritus of Environment and Development Studies. In 2024, he was awarded the World Food Prize. For 60 years, Pat has worked within international civil society as a co-founder of ETC Group, retired chair of IATP and a member of IPES – Food, He is author or co-author of several books on the politics of seeds, agrobiodiversity, biopiracy and new technologies including geo-engineering and Big Data. Pat is a recipient of the Right Livelihood Award, Canada’s Pearson Peace Prize and received honorary doctoral degrees from the University of Waterloo (Canada) and the 17 Advanced Institutes (Mexico). He is retired and living with his wife, Susie Walsh, in rural Québec where they share six children and 13 grandchildren.

Reviews for Shattering: Food, Politics, and the Loss of Genetic Diversity

""Not since Silent Spring has a book presented a warning as dire and as worldwide in its implications for the environment and the future of our food supply. . . . Written in a highly appealing narrative and factual style, underscored throughout with thoughtful political and economic analysis and not without touches of sardonic humor, this book by two long-time agricultural activists is a must read. Shattering provides a well-documented, clear-headed analysis of the challenges the world, particularly its agriculturally wealthy nations, face in confronting the question of genetic diversity.""—Multinational Monitor