This special issue is a commentary on Richard Manning's book entitled "Against the Grain: How Agriculture Has Hijacked Civilization". The thesis of his book is that agriculture occupies a central role in human civilization and that sustaining American culture requires fundamental shifts in food production, distribution and preferences. The issue consists of six articles. The first article presents comments of a panel of anthropologists and Manning's response and discusses recent developments in the production of maize for fuel ethanol in the midwestern United States. The second article examines Richard Manning's book with critical attention to the role of agriculture, technology, and population as agents of cultural evolutionary change. It also attends to the critical role of agriculture and the food system in contemporary issues of sustainability and social justice. The third article focuses on those dimensions of Manning's book that deal with the relationship between the consolidation of agriculture and the centralization of political power. The fourth article provides a summary comment of Manning's encounter with the anthropologists who read and commented on his book. The fifth article explores biotechnology transfer and genetically modified organisms as "public goods" for Colombia. The sixth article explores the role of gender, cultural change, and market dynamics affecting the resilience of adaptive livelihoods in arid landscapes in Northern Peru for families who lack access to irrigation and rely on goat herding in a context of cyclical droughts.
