Feed the Planet

"The aerial images are revelatory, sometimes unsettling and surprisingly beautiful" (New York Times Book Review)

Shortlisted for the 2025 Wainwright Prize for Best Illustrated Book. Acclaimed photographer George Steinmetz documents the awesome global effort that puts food on our tables and transforms the surface of the Earth.

Acclaimed photographer George Steinmetz documents the awesome global effort that puts food on our tables and transforms the surface of the Earth

With a foreword by Michael Pollan and an introduction and informative captions by veteran environmental journalist Joel K. Bourne Jr., Feed the Planet brings the impact of visual images, accompanied by clear explanations and accurate information, to one of humanity’s deepest needs, greatest pleasures, and most pressing challenges: Bringing nutritious and sustainably produced food to the Earth's growing population, in the face of destabilizing climate change.

It’s the rare book that reveals how the world works, laying the groundwork for thinking about how our personal choices shape the future well-being of everyone.

Do you know where your food comes from? To find out, photographer George Steinmetz spent a decade documenting food production in more than 36 countries on 6 continents, 24 US states, and 5 oceans. In striking aerial images, he captures the massive scale of 21st-century agriculture that has sculpted 40 percent of the Earth’s surface.

He explores the farming of staples like wheat and rice, the cultivation of vegetables and fruits, fishing and aquaculture, and meat production. He surveys traditional farming in diverse cultures, and he penetrates vast agribusinesses that fuel international trade. From Kansas wheat fields to a shrimp cocktail’s origins in India to cattle stations in Australia larger than some countries, Steinmetz tracks the foods we eat back to land and sea, field and factory. He takes us places that most of us never see, although our very lives depend on them.