NONFICTION - June 18, 1995

A GARDEN OF UNEARTHLY DELIGHTS: Bioengineering and the Future of Food by Robin Mather (Dutton: $23.95; 224 pp.). Here’s a pop quiz for city folk: 1) How much milk can top-grade dairy cows produce in a day? 2) Seeds from what Southern plant are often added to cattle fodder? 3) What unexpected ingredient do you find in typical chicken feed (don’t read the solution to this question before dinner). Answers: 1) Up to 10 gallons, or nearly 90 pounds. 2) Cotton seeds, for fiber and energy. 3) Ground-up feathers and carcasses of fellow chickens. Mather, food editor of the Detroit News, reports many odd facts in this volume, and although it is scarcely definitive, it’s a reasonable start on an important topic. Mather doesn’t make an argument against high-tech food production so much as provide anecdotal evidence--based on visits to dairy, chicken and produce farms, corporate as well as small-scale--that leads her to conclude that smaller is generally better. Mather, who spent time on a farm as a child, is clearly enthralled by the emergence of informal, individualized farms and her enthusiasm is catching: it’s good to hear about community-supported agriculture--one six-acre CSA plot near Kalamazoo, Mich., produced 21,698 pounds of food in 20 weeks--and chickens being bred (humanely) for taste rather than cheapness. Mather acknowledges, between the lines, that corporate technology has a place in modern farming--but her heart lies with those who farm for love rather than profit.