Farmland turned into muddy lakes. Baby calves swept into rivers. Fields scarred with gullies. Roads washed away by rivers. In Iowa, hundred-year rain events are now occuring every 25 years. As climate change drives more intense rain events, soil — weakened by a century of intensive farming and monocropping — is giving way. In this flooded landscape, farmers scramble to stay afloat. 

Tom Philpott’s book, Perilous Bounty, investigates the agriculture industry in two locations, California and the American Midwest. He examines how agriculture and the environment are locked in a vicious cycle. Agriculture in these two regions is dependent on specific regional environments. Almond and pistachio trees require the dry Mediterranean-esque heat of California, while corn and soybeans rely on the fertile topsoil in the Midwest.

Farming these crops depletes the very environment they depend on. Fruit trees in California pull water from underground aquifers faster than they can be replenished. Corn and soybean fields in the Midwest are tilled intensively, eroding valuable topsoil. These farming enterprises suffer, as the natural resources they depend on to successfully grow their crops break down. Climate change is only making it worse.

Farmers are often blamed for environmental degradation – after all, they are the ones cultivating the land. Why don’t they change their ways?  ? Philpott explains that they’re locked into a system that discourages it. 

In the Midwest, Big Agriculture is dominated by conglomerates like Bayer, Syngenta, and Corteva. They squeeze farmers out of most of their profits. Corporate lobbyists encourage the government to provide subsidies to farmers for continued production of corn and soybean. As climate change worsens erosion and flooding, Big Agriculture companies profit by selling “solutions.” True solutions which limit erosion, such as regenerative farming, are subsidized at much lower rates. Whether financially or environmentally, Midwest farmers are always on the losing side. 

In most developed countries, “dirty” jobs like manufacturing and refineries are shipped overseas to avoid negative effects, like worsening air or water pollution. Philpott asks why has farming not been outsourced despite its disastrous effects? 

These companies have no reason to move their industries abroad. Instead, they keep profiting  off the hard work of farmers and the largesse of American taxpayers.  Huge land area and diverse climates means most crops can be grown in the United States. Huge agricultural lobbies ensure that these companies can hold onto their control through limited regulation. The agricultural industry continues to make a few companies very rich, while local communities pay the price. 

The future for business-as-usual farming is precarious. But, it doesn’t have to be. By seamlessly blending quantitative facts with narrative stories collected through countless interviews and field studies, Philpott paints a picture of farmer resilience in the face of corporate greed. 

In a changing climate and on the verge of environmental collapse, farmers are changing too. In California, some farmers are turning to drought resistant plant species and experimenting with dry farming, where crops are grown with almost no irrigation. In the Midwest, farmers are experimenting with cover crops and crop rotations to improve soil health and reduce reliance on pesticides. While their neighbors’ fields are covered with dusty, dry soil, theirs is a rich black, teeming with nutrients. 

Though presenting many stories of adaptation from farmers, Philpott offers few of his own solutions. According to Philpott, change in the agricultural industry needs to come from the ground up, through individual mobilization. Policies like the Green New Deal offer potential. One part of the Green New Deal leaves specific legislation up for the public to decide, by calling for the elimination of pollution and greenhouse gas emissions from the agricultural industry, while supplying no concrete policies on how to achieve this goal. Philpott is aware that policy change is unlikely during a republican-dominated administration (he wrote this book during the Trump presidency). He believes that the Green New deal inspires grassroot support. While politicians are influenced by lobbies and feasibility studies, people can mobilize and advocate for changes they want to see.

But, to the reader, who has followed him through his own alarmist investigation into American agriculture, this conclusion seems far fetched. While Philpott urges the reader to “Vote with your fork, yes. But also, vote with your feet,” one is left wondering what difference this would make. Without political support to make sustainable policies possible, how can anything be achieved at all? In an otherwise interesting book, this key question remains unanswered.

In Perilous Bounty, Philpott shows that environmental issues are often not as simple as they appear. Big Agriculture has continually put profits before people and the environment. The food we rely on has an environmental price tag. The cost will continue to climb until we can no longer afford it. It’s time to reshape the agricultural industry before it is too late – the very future of food depends on it.