Stolen Harvest: The Hijacking of the Global Food Supply

First, Shiva points out that many of the productivity gains attributable to the Green Revolution were achieved by dramatically increased inputs of fertilizer, seed and water. When one compares units of input with units of output, however, native practices produce higher yields -- especially when one takes into account the multiple uses derived from a single product.

For example, mustard oil is a vital product used by many of India's poor for cooking, seasoning, medicine and other uses. But it has been banned by the Indian government (under highly suspicious circumstances) in order to allow imports of soybean oil products. While giant corporations benefit from expanded sales, native industries have been destroyed, contibuting to poverty and malnourishment.

Shiva discusses the commercial fishing and aquaculture (shrimp farming) practices that inevitably result in environmental destruction and reduced catches. She compares this short-sighted approach with traditional Indian fishing techniques that have successfully sustained themselves for generations while protecting important ecosystems such as mangrove forests.

Shiva discusses corporate patenting of seeds, which insidiously transforms the cooperative ethic of seed sharing into a criminal offense. The author supports a non-cooperation movement in India that is resisting corporate attempts to claim ownership of seeds that have been cultivated by countless generations of farmers.

Shiva's sacred cow / mad cow metaphor effectively and appropriately contrasts agribusiness with small farming. India's sacred cows live in harmony with the environment, performing multiple services and producing multiple products for the community; whereas mad cows are a grotesque manifestation of an industrial system obsessed with uniformity, technology and profit.

Shiva also touches on the topic of genetic engineering (GE) and discusses the threat it poses to biodiversity, food safety and human health.

The Afterword to the book alludes to the WTO protests in Seattle. Shiva believes this watershed event proves that people are becoming more aware of the dangers of unaccountable corporate power, yet she believes that positive change is possible. This opening of consciousness to new possibilities may be attributable to the extraordinary work of people like Vandana Shiva, whose intelligence and compassion is abundantly evident in this book. Highly recommended!


Critically important for environmentalists & students.   May 8, 2000
Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA)
45 out of 49 found this review helpful

In Stolen Harvest: The Hijacking Of The Global Food Supply, renowned environmental activist Vandana Shiva charts the impacts of globalized, corporate agriculture on small farmers, the environment, and the quality of the food we eat. Shiva writes about genetically engineered seeds, patents on life, mad cows (and sacred cows), shrimp farming, and more. Stolen Harvest is a passionate, articulate, highly recommended "wake up" call to the public regarding the role of genetic engineering in commercial agriculture, the growing domination of agribusiness with respect to world food supplies, and the need for sound environmental thinking with respect to feeding the burgeoning populations of the world.


Brilliance   April 28, 2000
Juliana Vander Voort
31 out of 33 found this review helpful

If you deplore the WTO and MN corporate control over the world's food supply through intellectual property rights and patents on genetically engineered seed - then reading Stolen Harvest is a must. Vandana Shiva brilliantly reveals the current crisis that Indian farmers are facing as Monsanto and other mega corps are jeopardizing the livelihoods of impoverished persons (worldwide) through seed monopoly and a centralized system of agriculture commerce. Shiva discusses the impact of industrial farming and aquaculture on the environment and how it stresses local populations and threatens the diversity of species. A MUST READ!


American food supply in danger   October 12, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful

I was shocked and angered at the pervasivness of corporate influence in the food we eat. The well being of people seems to be not much more than an afterthought. Dr. Shiva is very articulate in framing the consequences of the Monsanto's and Cargill's of the world and how they are systematicly robbing poor countries of their ability to survive without them. Poorer countries have been self sustaining for centuries developing specific strains of seed to survive in specific areas. It is almost unfathomable that any law could be created at the behest of a corporation that would make sharing seed among farmers illegal!! Easy to read,easy to understand. Dr.Shiva has indeed opened my eyes to the true nature of big corporate factory farms and the actual and potential damage which threatens mankind all in the quest for profits. I highly recomend this book to anyone under the illusion that the American food supply is safe.


Stolen Harvest: The Hijacking of the Global Food Supply   June 18, 2008
John Nahas (Houston, Texas USA)
I would ask that everyone interested in learning how our food supply and our seed stocks are being taken control of due to the actions of several large Agriculturally-focused corporations' and their abilities to utilize the World Trade Organization, International, and Country-of-Origin patent rights to hold-hostage the world's citizens in an attempt to covet the natural process for creating seed, to read this book.

This is the most important fight for our collective futures that we can involve ourselves in.