Author & Reader reviewed Tech to Table by Richard Munson
Review of 'Tech to Table' on 'Goodreads'
5 stars
The world is on fire, literally! That's what THEY say anyway. And a large part of our environmental issues stem from big agriculture. It's become increasingly clear that big ag needs to change. Be it the problems of monocultures, growing ridiculous amounts of alfalfa with so much water, too much corn for livestock that pee and fart too much, leaching chemicals, and the list goes on. Doom scroll the news and you sometimes forget that people are actually trying to solve these big issues. That's why this book was such a fun read. Munson introduced me to a bunch of entrepreneurs thinking big, doing big, and some are probably going to fail terribly. It's got everything from blockchain food tracking, soil health mapping, yummy bugs produced for chickens, gene editing, and more. One of my favorites, perhaps because I grew up in the Back of the Yards here in Chicago, …
The world is on fire, literally! That's what THEY say anyway. And a large part of our environmental issues stem from big agriculture. It's become increasingly clear that big ag needs to change. Be it the problems of monocultures, growing ridiculous amounts of alfalfa with so much water, too much corn for livestock that pee and fart too much, leaching chemicals, and the list goes on. Doom scroll the news and you sometimes forget that people are actually trying to solve these big issues. That's why this book was such a fun read. Munson introduced me to a bunch of entrepreneurs thinking big, doing big, and some are probably going to fail terribly. It's got everything from blockchain food tracking, soil health mapping, yummy bugs produced for chickens, gene editing, and more. One of my favorites, perhaps because I grew up in the Back of the Yards here in Chicago, is the chapter on Back of the Yards Algae Sciences, wherein you read about the power of Algae: "Pound for pound, they contain twice the protein of meat, more beta-carotene than carrots, more iron than spinach, and substantial amounts of omega-3 fatty acids." I might not want to eat a bowl full of algae just yet but yes please do give it to the fish farms to stop removing the small fish from the oceans for feed, and feed the algae to the local vertical farms to get a better quality and yield for the produce. Very cool to see entrepreneurship and science in action with real potential for change.