Agriculture & Food: Local Food/Marketing

Grocery Story : the promise of food co-ops in the age of grocery giants by Jon Steinman Grocery Story makes a compelling case for how food co-ops, as alternatives to corporate grocery giants, are spurring the creation of delicious local food economies and stronger communities, while changing the global food system for the better.

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: a year of food life by Barbara Kingsolver; Camille Kingsolver; Steven L. Hopp When Kingsolver and her family move from suburban Arizona to rural Appalachia, they take on a new challenge: to spend a year on a locally produced diet, paying close attention to the provenance of all they consume. "Our highest shopping goal was to get our food from so close to home, we'd know the person who grew it. Often that turned out to be ourselves as we learned to produce what we needed, starting with dirt, seeds, and enough knowledge to muddle through. Or starting with baby animals, and enough sense to refrain from naming them.

Grow Something Different to Eat by Matthew Biggs Whether you're a beginner and determined to make the most of limited space with a truly unique and heirloom harvest, or a seasoned grower looking to spice up your cooking with gourmet flavors, the step-by-step instructions give you the confidence to grow some unusually tasty crops. Choose from fruiting vegetables such as orange eggplants and hyacinth beans, salad greens such as fiddlehead ferns and sushi hostas, grains such as quinoa and chia, and luscious fruits such as honeyberries and white strawberries. All plants can be started indoors and transplanted, grown outdoors in the garden, or kept as houseplants. With versatile gardening advice for growing in a variety of spaces and situations, plus cooking suggestions and preserving options, a weird and wonderful harvest is guaranteed.

Food Rules: an eater's manual by Michael Pollan From the bestselling author of "The Omnivore's Dilemma" and "In Defense of Food" comes this collection of simple, sensible, and easy to use rules--the perfect guide for anyone who would like to become more mindful of the food he or she eats.

Market Farming Success by Lynn Byczynski

Food, Farms, and Community: Exploring Food Systems by Lisa Chase; Vern Grubinger Throughout the United States, people are increasingly concerned about where their food comes from, how it is produced, and how its production affects individuals and their communities. The answers to these questions reveal a complex web of interactions. While large, distant farms and multinational companies dominate at national and global levels, innovative programs including farmers’ markets, farm-to-school initiatives, and agritourism are forging stronger connections between people and food at local and regional levels. At all levels of the food system, energy use, climate change, food safety, and the maintenance of farmland for the future are critical considerations. The need to understand food systems—what they are, who’s involved, and how they work (or don’t)—has never been greater. Food, Farms, and Community: Exploring Food Systems takes an in-depth look at critical issues, successful programs, and challenges for improving food systems spanning a few miles to a few thousand miles. Case studies that delve into the values that drive farmers, food advocates, and food entrepreneurs are interwoven with analysis supported by the latest research. Examples of entrepreneurial farms and organizations working together to build sustainable food systems are relevant to the entire country—and reveal results that are about much more than fresh food.

The Handbook of Organic and Fair Trade Food Marketing by Simon Wright (Editor); Diane McCrea (Editor)

Market Orientation : Transforming Food and Agribusiness Around the Customer by Adam Lindgreen (Editor); Martin Hingley (Editor); David Harness (Editor); Paul Custance

Public Produce: The New Urban Agriculture by Darrin Nordahl

Food Politics: How the Food Industry Influences Nutrition and Health by Marion Nestle; Michael Pollan (Foreword by)

Food, Inc. by Robert Kenner Lifts the veil on our nation's food industry, exposing how our nation's food supply is now controlled by a handful of corporations that often put profits ahead of consumer health, the livelihood of the American farmer, the safety of workers and our own environment. Reveals surprising - and often shocking truths - about what we eat, how it's produced and who we have become as a nation.

In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto by Michael Schwarz "Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants." These simple words go to the heart of food journalist Pollan's thesis. Humans used to know how to eat well, he argues, but the balanced dietary lessons that were once passed down through generations have been confused and distorted by food industry marketers, nutritional scientists, and journalists. As a result, we face today a complex culinary landscape dense with bad advice and foods that are not "real." Indeed, plain old eating is being replaced by an obsession with nutrition that is, paradoxically, ruining our health, not to mention our meals. Pollan's advice is: "Don't eat anything that your great-great grandmother would not recognize as food." Looking at what science does and does not know about diet and health, he proposes a new way to think about what to eat, informed by ecology and tradition rather than by the nutrient-by-nutrient approach

King Corn: You Are What You Eat by Ian Cheney Fueled by curiosity and a dash of naiveté, college buddies Ian Cheney and Curt Ellis return to their ancestral home of Greene, Iowa, to find out how the modest corn kernel conquered America. With the help of real farmers, powerful fertilizer, government aid, and genetically modified seeds, the friends manage to grow one acre of corn. Along the way, they unlock the hidden truths about America's modern food system.