Food Sovereignty by Jill Richardson

Del Monte Pineapple, Kenya

Del Monte...

About 5000 acres One of several enormous plantations in Thika, Kenya. Pays workers $2.40/day (less than min wage) Agrochemicals sicken nearby farmers & have killed livestock Small farmers in this area raise families on 1/5 of an acre, 1/4 of an acre... a 5 acre farm is big for this area.

Impiel Family, Philippines

Isabela, Philippines

Gerry Impiel and his wife have no education, 8 kids, and a few hectares of land with no title to it (and no way to get a title). They take out a loan 2x/year to buy Monsanto's GMO corn and chemicals and then sell the crop, which will become livestock feed. They do not grow enough rice or produce enough income to supply them with food throughout the year.

Santiago de Okola, Bolivia

Santiago de Okola

Agrochemicals were introduced by foreigners a few decades back. Farmers are now working to go organic & abandoning exotic livestock breeds for local ones. They raise livestock for wool, meat, milk, and income, and grow grains, potatoes, and other Andean crops. In recent years, climate change has made it increasingly difficult to farm - new pests, new

U.S.A.

Agribusiness owns our regulatory bodies & Congress. Most people don't know where their food comes from. Those who can least afford health care to pay for diet-related illness are also least able to afford a healthy diet & lifestyle. Good food requires more than money: time, cooking equipment, knowledge, access to grow or buy it near your home...

Food Sovereignty
"Food sovereignty is the right of peoples to define their own food and agriculture to protect and regulate domestic agricultural production and trade in order to achieve sustainable development objectives to determine the extent to which they want to be self reliant to restrict the dumping of products in their markets, and...

Food Sovereignty
to provide local fisheries-based communities the priority in managing the use of and the rights to aquatic resources. Food sovereignty does not negate trade, but rather, it promotes the formulation of trade policies and practices that serve the rights of peoples to safe, healthy and ecologically sustainable production." - Statement on Peoples Food Sovereignty by Via Campesina et. al

Threats to Food Sovereignty

Ownership and control over seeds Unjust distribution of land Inequitable trade policies The climate crisis!!!!!

Seeds

"Improved varieties," typically hybrid seeds and now, increasingly, GMOs are designed to produce high yields with high amounts of chemical inputs:
o
o o o o

Chemical fertilizer (made from fossil fuels) Herbicides Insecticides and other pesticides Often irrigation Mechanization

Hybrids do not "breed true" - you can technically save them, but you won't get the

Biointensive Garden, Bolivia

Biointensive Garden, Bolivia

Garden to feed students in rural university 100% organic - except... All of the locally available seeds are hybrids and the affordable ones are pre-treated with pesticides... So they plant pesticide-treated seeds, which they must purchase and cannot save. The only saved seeds they have are for the rocoto pepper, a popular Andean pepper for which there aren't commercially available

Imagine you're Monsanto...

After you stop retching, consider this: Is it more profitable to develop a new seed that is locally suited for each place where you sell seeds? Or is it more profitable to sell cotton seeds adapted to Texas to farmers in India? And corn seeds bred for Iowa to farmers in Kenya?

The Alternative

The "Green Revolution" model: high input, high yielding seeds, planting the most profitable crop as a monoculture, buying inputs on credit, and then buying your food with the money you earn. The alternative is traditional varieties of saved seeds, few external inputs, planting a variety of crops and several varieties of each, and eating what you grow. This is the recipe for food sovereignty.

Why?

Lower risk, but more certain results If one crop fails, chances are another won't Polyculture & crop rotation decrease risk of pest problems. Organic methods, using locally available inputs (manure, rainfall, ash, compost) are more resilient to climate extremes and can match yields from chemical agriculture Your profit is your own. If all else fails, you can eat your crop. (You

What does this mean in America?

So you're not going to drop everything and be a farmer :)

o o o o o o o

Urban agriculture - backyard chickens, gardening, community gardens, herbs in pots, composting, etc. Farmers markets Natural food cooperatives Create a buying club with friends Preserve in season crops to eat out of season (freeze, dehydrate, can, pickle, ferment) Go berry picking, apple picking, etc. Get a rain barrel to harvest rainwater

Local Action

Some Ideas

Front yard gardens are advertisements for gardening, and they build community & challenge the idea that we all need a lawn If you have a lawn, don't rip it out - compost it in place. Can you legally get chickens, miniature goats, or bees? And if not, would your neighbors turn you in? Bribery with eggs can work. Cities are now changing urban ag laws.

Organizations
La Via Campesina Food First Institute for Ag & Trade Policy Oakland Institute National Family Farm Coalition Food and Water Watch Food Democracy Now

Books

For a historical perspective, Kitchen Literacy by Ann Vileisis and The War on Bugs by Will Allen On climate change: Diet for a Hot Planet by Anna Lappe On global food issues: Stuffed and Starved by Raj Patel And - in a year - my upcoming book Starved for Justice, about how the U.S. uses agricultural aid as a tool of imperialism.

Books to Start Gardening

Teaming with Microbes: A Gardener's Guide to the Soil Food Web How to Grow More Vegetables... by John Jeavons