Food, Agriculture, and Environmental Law

Book excerpt: In the groundbreaking Food, Agriculture, and Environmental Law, leading environmental legal scholars Mary Jane Angelo, Jason Czarnezki, and Bill Eubanks, along with five distinguished contributing authors, undertake an exploration of the challenging political and societal issues facing agricultural policy and modern food systems through the lens of environmental protection laws. Through this exploration, the authors seek to answer difficult questions about the need for new approaches to agricultural policy and environmental law to meet 21st Century concerns surrounding climate change, sustainable agriculture, accessibility to healthy foods, and the conservation of natural resources and ecosystem services. This is the first book to examine both the impact of agricultural policy on the environment and the influence of environmental law on food and agriculture. The authors present a brief historical overview of agricultural policy as it has adapted to satisfy shifting demands and new technologies, and its role in shaping not only the current farming system and the rural economy, but also the value which we ascribe to our natural resources relative to agricultural production. The authors then explain in detail the components of the current farm bill; analyze the ecological impacts of the modern farming system encouraged by our nation s agricultural policy; and examine the interplay between agriculture, food production and distribution, and existing environmental and related laws. They conclude with several concrete proposals to reform agricultural policy that serve as models of how to enhance sustainability in our farming and food system. This book supplies a comprehensive, timely, and cohesive guide on the intersection of agriculture and the natural environment. It achieves this goal through an interdisciplinary lens, engaging diverse perspectives to provide both a practical and academic examination of the environmental impacts of current farm policy, the applicability of environmental regulatory mechanisms to agriculture and food, and reform proposals to combat environmental harms while protecting farmers economic interests as well as the rural communities they bolster. As a result, this work serves as the quintessential text for bringing these issues to the classroom in a variety of fields, including law, public policy, agricultural economics, and environmental science.