Feeding the World as if People Mattered: How Small Farms Produce Value Beyond Yields
Title: Feeding the World as if People Mattered: How Small Farms Produce Value Beyond Yields
Author: Andrew Flachs
Publisher: The University of Arizona Press
Publication Date: May 2026
About the Book: This book reimagines what agriculture should value—not just yield and profit, but people, communities, and ecosystems. Drawing on more than a decade of anthropological research across South India, Eastern Europe and North America, Flachs explores how small farmers are already building more sustainable and humane food systems. Blending personal inspiration with global insight, the book challenges conventional ideas about efficiency and productivity, instead highlighting the social and ecological relationships that truly sustain us. It’s a thoughtful, accessible read for anyone interested in where their food comes from and how it could be grown differently.
About the Author: Dr. Andrew Flachs researches food and agriculture systems, exploring genetically modified crops, heirloom seeds and our own microbiomes. Born and raised in rural Pennsylvania, he graduated from Oberlin College with dual Bachelor of Music and Bachelor of Arts degrees in 2010. He earned his PhD from Washington University in St. Louis in April 2016 and was a 2016-2017 Volkswagen Exchange Postdoctoral Research Fellow with the Heidelberg University Karl Jaspers Centre for Advanced Transcultural Studies. He is currently an associate professor of anthropology at Purdue University.