Feeding a Divided America

Third-generation Montana rancher and international agriculture development specialist Gilles Stockton explores the causes of what he refers to as the “rural-urban divide” and how this widening chasm between rural America and urban centers threatens our democracy.

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In Feeding a Divided America, third-generation Montana rancher and international agriculture development specialist Gilles Stockton explores the causes of what he refers to as the ""rural-urban divide"" and how this widening chasm between rural America and urban centers threatens our democracy. He shows how it determines the very structure of our society and the physical as well as political landscapes in which we live, and he goes on to demonstrate how big banks, international food conglomerates, urban expectations, and US farm policy have all participated in the demise of small towns across rural America.

In a series of polemical essays, Stockton paints a clear picture of national food issues surrounding market competition, US trade policy, country-of-origin labeling, wildlife controversies, climate change, supply-chain disruptions, the decline of pastoralism worldwide, and US farm policy, topics that impact all Americans and transcend local, regional, national, and global geopolitical boundaries. Stockton stands firm with American farmers and ranchers, offering potential remedies to these issues in the face of concerns over livelihood, the future of American food systems, and the future of our planet. Stockton's essays are timely, and they challenge American urbanites and rural folk alike to find ways for all of us to coexist in a changing environment.