With food scarcity driven by falling water tables, eroding soils, and rising temperatures, control of arable land and water resources is moving to center stage in the global struggle for food security. In this era of tightening world food supplies, the ability to grow food is fast becoming a new form of geopolitical leverage. Food is the new oil, Lester R. Brown writes. What will the geopolitics of food look like in a new era dominated by scarcity and food nationalism? Brown outlines the political implications of land acquisitions by grain-importing countries in Africa and elsewhere as well as the world s shrinking buffers against poor harvests. With wisdom accumulated over decades of tracking agricultural issues, Brown exposes the increasingly volatile food situation the world is facing.

莱斯特·R.布朗（Lester R. Brown），《谁来养活中国》一书作者；因1974年创办世界观察研究所并担任所长26年而闻名于世。期间他创办了全球环境运动的“圣经”《世界现状》（State of the World）年报，以及《世界观察》（World Watch）双月刊。2001年5月，他又在华盛顿市创办了非营利性的跨学科研究组织——地球政策研究所，其宗旨是提供环境上可持续发展的经济与生态经济的构想，以及从目前经济模式转向生态经济的路线图。1992年，他创办了年报《重要征象：塑造未来的趋势》（Vital Signs：The Trends That Are Shaping Our Future）。

他被《华盛顿邮报》誉为“世界上最有影响的一位思想家”。

印度加尔各答的《电讯报》称他为“环境运动的宗师”。

1995年，Lester Brown被美国《马奎斯名人录》选为50位杰出美国人之一。