Resources / Ripples & Wipeouts

I am a self-described foodie. I love food. I love cooking. I love eating. I have made efforts in past years to eat what I call, “real food,” that is, food that isn’t processed and has ingredients that I recognize and can pronounce. I try to buy organic when I can, and always go for the local options at the supermarket, but that was where my efforts to understand the food industry ended. So, when I walked into the New School to attend a panel discussion on food sovereignty, I didn’t know what to expect. The discussion, titled, “Farmers Speak Out: The Global Struggle for Food Sovereignty,” had been coordinated by the organization, World Hunger Year (WHY), and although I had briefly scanned their website before the event, I could hardly call myself informed with regards to food sovereignty, and I was looking forward to learning more.

The moderator of the discussion, Colleen Ross, opened the session by first defining food sovereignty as agreed upon at the Nyeleni 2007 Forum for Food Sovereignty held in Selingue, Mali.  That conference resulted in the composition of a page-long document detailing all aspects of food sovereignty, but in essence, “food sovereignty is the right of peoples, communities, and countries to define their own agricultural, labor, fishing, food and land policies which are ecologically, socially, economically and culturally appropriate to their unique circumstances.  It includes the true right to food and to produce food, which means that all people have the right to safe, nutritious and culturally appropriate food and food-producing resources and the ability to sustain themselves and their societies."*

She then passed the mic to panelists, who represented Venezuela, Brazil, Guatemala, Colombia and Ecuador.  The resounding themes across panelists were that they need to be able to save seeds (currently it is illegal for farmers to save the seeds produced by their crops for use in the following season), trade seeds, and remain competitive in the local economy by stopping the dumping of subsidized crops in developing countries.  Without these rights, farmers lose their autonomy.  One panelist, María del Pilar Jurado from Colombia stated simply, “perdemos nuestras semillas, perdemos la cultura, perdemos nuestra identidad: we lose our seeds, we lose our culture, we lose our identity.”

There have been major conflicts taking place throughout Central and South America as a result of agrarian reform taking place in developing nations.  Farmers and their families are frustrated and hungry, and they are turning to suicide, violence, or the growth of more profit yielding crops such as coca and poppy (the base components of cocaine and heroin).

There is a wealth of information available online about food sovereignty.  To find out more check out the following sites:

World Hunger Year
True Food Now!
Food First/Institute for Food Development and Policy
Organic Consumers Association

I won’t be growing my own food anytime soon, but the thought certainly crossed my mind. In the meantime, I will settle for being an informed foodie, doing my part at the farmers markets and grocery stores to support farmers in their fight for food sovereignty.

--AMI

*"What is Food Sovereignty?” IPC Food Sovereignty, 28 September 2007, www.foodsovereignty.org/new.