A revealing look at how farmland has been shaped, and ultimately imperiled, by liberal notions of progress and nature. 
 
The Holland Marsh, a small agricultural preserve just north of Toronto, boasts some of the richest farmland in Canada. In From Dismal Swamp to Smiling Farms, Michael Classens argues that the reclaimed wetland, often celebrated as an exemplar of modern food sustainability efforts, actually reveals how capitalist ideas about the natural world imperil agriculture. Supported by original interviews and archival research, this study teases out the inherent contradictions of contemporary farmland conservation paradigms and highlights the key obstacles facing a more socially and ecologically just food system.