Acknowledgments Foreword Introduction: one shot at a warlord Story 1: How I realized i had only "40 chances" Story 2: Prague, 1968 : "The army eats first : we get what is left" Story 3: From bulldozing dirt to planting soil Story 4: Devon's gift Story 5: Because "al called" Story 6: The ovarian lottery Story 7: Reality has a nutty taste, especially when fried Story 8: Where hunger hides Bravery, courage, and hope Story 9: Loved, but lost Story 10: Empty calories Story 11: Little cromite Story 12: Sex and hunger in Timbuktu Story 13: Loss in Armenia Story 14: Farming under fire Story 15: Seeds of change Story 16: Shakira Story 17: a franciscan padre in the Sierra Madre Story 18: Gorillas v. guerillas Hard-learned lessons Story 19: Can this village be saved? Story 20: A complicated legacy Story 21: For yields to go up, we have to look down Story 21 1/2: owners make better farmers Story 22: What does doing better look like? / by Howard W. Buffett Story 23: Disconnects Story 25: A six-beer insight Story 26: Less than sparkling Challenges we need to figure out Story 27: Elephants and experts Story 28: Can smarter carrots save soil? Story 29: Chains that unlock potential / by Howard W. Buffett Story 30: A walk to the well Story 31: Souped up yields from stripped down tools Story 32: Does aid plant seeds of violence? / by Howard W. Buffett Reasons to hope Story 33: Opening what once was cerrado Story 34: Chocolate-covered opportunities Story 35: Fired up in Ghana Story 36: Buy local! Story 37: Hungry for data Story 38: The power of a piece of paper Story 39: Farmer of the future / by Howard W. Buffett Story 40: Help for a "poor relation" Epilogue: an optimistic pessimist returns to prague