About the Book: We are coming to understand that global warming will inevitably change our lives yet, at the same time, there is little discussion about its effects upon the availability of food. Agriculture is 100% dependent upon the weather. Clearly, global warming will challenge our ability to feed ourselves. But given for what passes as debate on the coming Farm Bill, what we will get, will reinforce the same industrial, oligopolistic, global corporate controlled food production system. A farm/rural policy designed to meet the threat posed by a changing climate, would enhance the economic viability of family farms, and re-vitalize rural communities. This is not even under consideration.

The history of what happened to farming and rural America is discouraging. Beginning in the 1960’s, family farms wereintentionally marginalized to the point that rural America has been hollowed out - a vast low populated slum. Although USDA statistics claim that there are just under two million farms, half are in actuality rural residences that do not factor in food production. Ten percent (200,000) of what USDA counts are agricultural enterprises that produce and market eighty percent (80%) of the food. Another 800,000 small to medium sized family farms raises the remaining twenty percent. However, these 800,000 smaller family farms exist on the margins of an industrial dominated agricultural system.

Agriculture occupies over half of the land in the continental United States. Therefore, half of the environment is entrusted to farmers. However, the 200,000 largest farms and livestock factories are vertically integrated into production/market chains controlled by about two dozen global agri-industrial corporations. A huge portion of the environment is under the domination of just a small number of global corporations.

Americans should be alarmed at the implications of thisagricultural cartel because extremes in weather are increasingly challenging the production of food. Farming requires a certain level of predictability. As the weather becomes less and less consistent, that predictability is disappearing.

To successfully produce food under adverse climatic conditions requires diversification of crops and farming strategies. However, industrialized agriculture is a top-down system which requires maximum production of just a handful of crops. The infrastructure needed to plant these crops and ultimately market the food, has been streamlined to meet the needs of theseindustrial agri-cartels. The food security needs of American consumers and the needs of family farmers are decidedly secondary considerations. Because of increasingly erratic weather, vast acreages of mono-cropped corn, soybeans, and wheat are vulnerable, as are the factory farms of poultry, hogs, dairy cattle, and feedlot steers.

But global warming is not the only challenge we, as Americans, face. The future of our inclusive form of government is also an open question. Will the United States of America survive as a united country? Much of this political divide splits right down between the rural and the urban. Decades of anti-family farm,anti-rural policy, has resulted in the deterioration of our belief in democratic processes.

“Feeding a Divided America” (University of New Mexico Press, 2024; www.gillesstockton.com) gives the readers a framework in which to understand the implications of climatic change on the art of raising food and provides insights into the rise of political extremism in rural America. Only if we recognize a common history and have a reliable set of facts, can we reach workable conclusions. This debate that needs to happen might be the difference between whether we can feed ourselves or not. Start a discussion with your friends and ask your elected representatives what they plan to do to protect our food supply?The future of food security is something that you should takevery seriously.



About the Author: Gilles Stockton is the owner and manager of a sheep and cattle ranch in Montana and an expert in livestock production, livestock marketing, and economic development of pastoral areas, with considerable experience in the Horn of Africa and the Middle East. He pursued a dual career, managing and working the family ranch since 1975, and accomplishing numerous assignments in the Horn of Africa and the Middle East for agencies and organizations such as USAID, FAO, European Commission, Save the Children Federation, and the British Red Cross Society. Mr. Stockton holds a Masters Degree in Animal Science from Montana State University. He has been engaged in advocating for rural America in a number of positions including: past president of the Montana Cattlemen’s Association; past chair of the Northern Plains Resource Council (NPRC) Agriculture Taskforce; past board representative of NPRC to the Western Organization of Resource Council; past member of the Montana Board of Livestock (appointed position); past member of the Secretary of Agriculture’s Advisory Board on Animal Health (appointed position); and former Pastoralist and Livestock Marketing Specialist for USAID/East Africa. Currently he serves as an elected member of the Fergus County Community Council and Emergency Medical Technician with the Grass Range Volunteer Ambulance Service.