Publishers Weekly
08/12/2024
This impassioned treatise from Garcés (Grilled)—the president of Mercy for Animals, a nonprofit that promotes sustainable agriculture—explores the dark underbelly of animal farming. She describes the meat industry’s cruelty (chickens are bred to grow so large and so fast that their hearts, unable to keep up, often fail) and devastating environmental impact, noting that “farmed animals emit more greenhouse gases than the world’s planes, trains, and automobiles put together.” Examining how “Big Ag” hurts farmers, Garcés tells how in order to contract with Tyson (one of a handful of companies that together control over half the meat market), North Carolina farmers Paula and Dale Boles took out hefty loans to build facilities that conformed with Tyson’s standards, only to find that the company’s capricious payment system meant that in years when disease thinned their flocks, Tyson didn’t pay enough for the Boles to make their loan payments. Garcés suggests that farmers can reclaim their independence while healing the environment by transitioning to growing such products as mushrooms and microgreens, both of which bring in higher profits than meat. Garcés makes clear how animals and humans suffer under the status quo, and she offers practical suggestions for reform, including bolstering animal welfare protections and improving labor standards for farmers. This strikes a chord. (Sept.)
From the Publisher
Impassioned treatise . . . Garcés makes clear how animals and humans suffer under the status quo, and she offers practical suggestions for reform, including bolstering animal welfare protections and improving labor standards for farmers. This strikes a chord.”
—Publishers Weekly
“By giving birds, pigs, and cattle proper names, Garcés heightens readers’ sympathies for abused creatures while making a good case for alternative farming methods.”
—Booklist
“Factory farms are a crime against nature, and Transfarmation convincingly argues that we can feed ourselves, must heal ourselves, without them.”
—Eric Schlosser, author of Fast Food Nation
“A book that gives me hope that radical transformation is possible and is happening [and] a must-read for all those who want to see a brighter, more sustainable, and ethical future.”
—Vicky Bond, president of the Humane League
“A brilliant, essential read, clear-eyed and kind, showing how animal agriculture is cruel not just to farm animals but to farmers, farmworkers, and the land, and how there’s a happier, gentler path forward for all of us. It comes from one of the world’s authorities on transforming what we eat and how we eat.”
—Annie Lowrey, author of Give People Money
“What a wonderful antidote to the negativity and cynicism all around us. Leah Garcés gets things done!”
—A. J. Jacobs, author of The Year of Living Biblically
“Heartfelt, insightful, grounded, and upbeat, this book provides deep breaths of fresh air and fresh thinking.”
—Philip Lymbery, global chief executive, Compassion in World Farming, and author of Farmageddon
“More importantly illustrates a hopeful and sustainable path out of that deeply broken system to a more humane world for all involved—animals and people.”
—Matt Bershadker, president and CEO, American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals
“Garcés has given us a powerful road map in Transfarmation, with her ideas and her dignified approach to farmers and workers just as badly trapped in the misery of factory farming as the animals it consumes.”
—Kitty Block, president and CEO, Humane Society of the United States
“Unveils the harrowing experiences of exploited farmers, abused animals, and marginalized communities . . . A revolutionary shift toward a humane and sustainable food system.”
—Suzy Welch, author, professor, and business advisor
