Synth Foods vs. various farmers

[Drake]

I recently read a novel by Paolo Bacigalupi called The Windup Girl, and it had themes which reminded me a lot of the hostilities between Synth Foods and the various angry farmers. Basically, the novel takes place in a near-future where much of Earth's natural resources have been depleted, and most of the world is reliant upon the "calorie companies", Western corporations which genetically engineer and produce new crops to keep ahead of various super-blights (which were their fault to begin with), and in doing so keep much of the world in their pocket. The novel is set in Thailand, and much of it deals with the violent resentment towards the calorie companies and their unwanted Western influence.

It's a very dark book, definitely for mature readers only, but it's very good.