A3. Agroecology

As protests against the EU-Mercosur trade agreements grow louder, we are republishing the La Via Campesina statement based on a proposal from the Latin American Coordination of Rural Organizations (CLOC-Vía Campesina) and the European Coordination Via Campesina (ECVC).

(05 December 2023) From the VIII International Conference of La Via Campesina, held in Bogota, with over 500 delegates from all continents, we express our rejection of the Free Trade Agreement between Mercosur and the European Union. We believe that this agreement solely benefits large transnational corporations responsible for hunger and the climate crisis. Its consequences will be destructive for people, particularly for peasants in the affected regions.

The treaty commodifies food without considering human rights, the right to food, and the rights of peasants as adopted by the United Nations in the Declaration on the Rights of Peasants and Other People Working in Rural Areas. The agreement fails to recognize the diverse economic and social realities within each country’s food systems and proposes rules that only favor concentrated and transnationalized sectors of agriculture.

This trade agreement will lead to the destruction of peasant food systems that currently supply food to people in each region. It is tailor-made for financial capital and transnational corporations, the main culprits behind poverty, the climate crisis, and the food crisis. For many years, farmers, peasants, landless people, Afro-descendant communities, and agricultural workers have suffered the consequences of market regulation through the international free trade regime.

The interests of agri-food companies consistently override those of small food producers and agricultural workers. The price of the food we produce has artificially disconnected from the local production costs. We are forced to compete with each other, despite significant variations in production conditions from one country to another.

Land, water, and seed commodification lead to the impoverishment of rural populations. Corporations progressively taking control of food systems only appear “competitive” because they are heavily subsidized with public money and are not required to bear the health, environmental, and social costs of their industrial production model.

As stated in the UN Declaration on the Rights of Peasants and Other People Working in Rural Areas, to ensure peasant rights and to end hunger, it is necessary to develop public policies for Food Sovereignty. This requires tools that allow states to intervene in markets and regulate them to achieve fair balances against the concentration of food systems in large corporations that exercise dominant power by speculating on food prices.

Far from a free market, states must also intervene to ensure sustainable production methods that reverse the process of nature destruction and water pollution. This agreement will encourage unsustainable production models in rural areas, causing even more small and medium-scale food producers to disappear and migrate to urban areas for precarious jobs.

In the EU, the agricultural population already represents less than 5% of total employment, while in Mercosur countries, the rural population is among the most marginalized. Does this truly align with our governments’ long-term vision for rural areas?

This agreement does not consider the interests of workers, peasants, or agricultural cooperatives. On the contrary, it poses a huge risk to them. Additionally, it is not a sustainable agreement; free trade allows large companies to advance their capital accumulation voracity at the expense of nature and the expulsion of peasants from their lands.

La Via Campesina demands a new international framework for global trade based on food sovereignty. We support international cooperation and solidarity among peoples. Bilateral or birregional cooperation agreements must core on human rights, especially the rights of food producers recognized in the UNDROP. They should enable authentic agricultural development prioritizing local food production and agroecology. They must halt the corporate power expansion in food and agriculture, prioritizing small and medium-scale food producers.

As peasants, small farmers, and agricultural workers from both continents, we call on all social movements and civil society organizations to oppose the EU-MERCOSUR agreement and demand that our governments halt this agreement.

Summary of the statement below:

On Thursday, February 1, 2024, European peasant farmers staged a blockade in Brussels against the EU-Mercosur agreement, demanding fair prices for peasant farmers and meaningful state support towards agroecological transition. Here is the video report. Press release here.

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Statement from Asociación Nacional de Mujeres Rurales e Indígenas | Chile, February 04, 2024

From the Asociación Nacional de Mujeres Rurales e Indígenas (ANAMURI), we express our concern regarding the tragic events that unfolded over the past three days in the Valparaiso region. We are deeply disturbed by the devastating fires that have affected thousands of hardworking families who, through considerable effort, have built their homes.

It is imperative to put an end to the destruction and horror caused by an unjust and unsustainable model of monoculture forestry and unscrupulous real estate practices. This model has led to over 500 thousand hectares burning uncontrollably, resulting in the destruction of entire villages, homes, crops, animals, native vegetation, vehicles, and tools. Additionally, hundreds of people have lost their lives or been hospitalized.

Countless women and their families have lost everything, while many more have been living in anguish and uncertainty for weeks due to the fires. Our heartfelt sympathy and support go out to all the women and families whose lives and livelihoods have been tragically altered by these fires.

Now more than ever, we must work diligently to provide immediate solidarity to those most affected by the fires. We also need to continue efforts to support the recovery of the right to land, the right to peasant and indigenous agriculture across the territory, ensuring access to sovereign and quality food. It is crucial to prioritize valuing the land for its social function of feeding the people, rather than catering to the interests of capital.

We urge the Chilean government and politicians to implement real mitigation measures and finally pass the law that prohibits construction on burned land—a law that has been dormant in Congress since 2021.
Furthermore, we call for the ongoing fight against monocultures and various forms of extractivism. We advocate for a state that prioritizes peasant and indigenous agriculture in its productive policies, aiming to guarantee the right to food for all and achieve true food sovereignty throughout the country.

Let us work together to ensure that never again will native forests, homes, and families perish in the flames ignited by real estate developers, construction companies, and businessmen.

We will continue to fight for the defense of the rights of women workers and producers!
We will continue to fight for the defense of peasant agriculture, the right to food and food sovereignty!
We will continue to fight for the end of monocultures, forestry and real estate of terror!

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The West and Central African Council for Agricultural Research and Development (CORAF) is working to break down research silos among governments and across geographies in West and Central Africa. According to Dr. Abdou Tenkouano, former Executive Director of CORAF, these initiatives are critical to building climate resilience in the region.

“This is a global village,” Tenkouano tells Food Tank. “We are all inter-connected, interdependent, interlinked.”

CORAF, now under the new leadership of Dr. Alioune Fall, is the largest sub-regional research organization in Africa, working with 23 national agricultural research systems in the Sahelian, Coastal, and Central regions of Africa to improve agricultural research and economic growth. The organization focuses on localized solutions to issues facing farmers.

“What we’ve learned from the pandemic is that there is a restriction of movement that causes the necessity of what we call proximity economies,” or shorter, local food value chains, says Tenkouano. “At the local level, one should be able to produce as much as what is needed.”

Most agricultural production in West and Central Africa is from smallholder farmers. In addition to growing millet, sorghum, maize, and other crops, they produce seeds to use the following year. During the Ebola crisis from 2014 to 2016, farmers across the region were going hungry because of food shortages, trade restrictions, border controls, and rising food prices. Many, unfortunately, were resorting to eating the seeds they had intended to plant the following season. In response, CORAF mobilized entrepreneurs to source seeds of appropriate varieties and transport them across country borders.

“This was the first time that we had a regional response to a regional issue,” says Tenkouano.

Tenkouano notes that successful regional initiatives must seek out and respect farmers’ input. As an organization, CORAF takes a participatory approach to creating long-lasting agricultural solutions.

“From the beginning, we identify the issues together [with farmers], then we design the approach to solving together…that is a landmark thing that we do at CORAF,” says Tenkouano. “You cannot work on solutions away from where the problems are…Most farmers are local actors of change.”

But this model is not common in typical research settings. According to Tenkouano, often, solutions fail to meet their intended outcomes because research is conducted separately and brought to the farmers once complete.

“We can make things at the community level, involve the community from the start, so that they can own the process from the start,” says Tenkouano.

This participatory model of solution development will be critical to climate adaptation efforts in West and Central Africa, but “we need to give local context some support,” says Tenkouano.

According to a 2022 report by the International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction, localizing—or transferring responsibilities, capacities, and resources to national and local actors—can effectively build resilience in disaster-affected countries. But in 2022, just 1.2 percent of total international humanitarian assistance was provided directly to local and national actors.

Investing in local organizations and solutions is also an opportunity to help the region move away from a dependence on a global market, says Tenkouano. According to the United Nations, currency depreciation and high inflation are causing food bills to rise in West and Central Africa, which is highly dependent on imports to feed its growing populations.

CORAF’s regional initiatives seek to build resilience by “embracing all at once” interconnected issues like market access, trade, women’s equity, and the empowerment of youth.

“The best innovations are maybe not in the biophysical context, the best innovations are in the social constructs,” says Tenkouano.

For example, women and youth make up 62 percent and 65 percent of the agricultural labor force, respectively, according to Mariame Maiga, PhD, Regional Gender and Social Development Advisor at CORAF. They, however, have limited access to productive agricultural resources—like appropriate technologies and innovations, quality seeds and fertilizers, agricultural infrastructure, credit, extension services, and markets—because of the gender gap in agriculture.

“Gender inequalities in agriculture remain one of the main causes for the underperformance of the sector, with major negative impacts on food and nutrition security, economic growth, and sustainable socio-economic development of the populations,” says Maiga. “Closing the gender gap with women’s empowerment and leadership is critical to West and Central Africa’s food system.”

According to Maiga, the region’s food system does not currently have enough seeds to meet farmers’ demand. In 2022, CORAF developed a gender-smart approach to fill this gap by organizing a regional platform for women entrepreneurs in the seed industry, including a series of trainings on production techniques, quality control, policies, business management, and communications. The platform is now being used as a tool for scaling drought-tolerant and biofortified seed varieties in West and Central Africa while promoting women’s entrepreneurship.

And in 2023, CORAF trained more than one thousand women and youth in seed multiplication, processing, marketing, and management as part of the Comprehensive African Agriculture Development Programme initiative, and the Food System Resilience Program in Benin, Burkina Faso, Niger, Nigeria, Mali, Senegal, Togo, and Tchad. Programs such as this build local capacities across the seed value chain while fostering entrepreneurship among women and youth in the seed sector.

Tenkouano is hopeful about new, digital solutions arriving to accelerate knowledge-sharing and connect women and youth leaders to better resources.

“[Young people] are highly connected among themselves, highly connected to the world. And they are very skilled at manipulating those gadgets and apps that pop in every day,” says Tenkouano. As “electronic extension agents,” youth are taking new technologies and making sure they are disseminated to those who could benefit. “These are areas that are new, that did not exist 10 years ago. And I think it’s all exciting, I can’t even begin to think of all the possibilities.”

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Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

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To become good stewards of the planet, we need to connect with our ‘climate emotions’—because that’s how we move from grief and anxiety toward a sense of purpose and thriving, says science writer Britt Wray.

Bottled water is a US$300 billion market—and it’s creating a trifecta of plastic waste, resource extraction, and social inequity, says sociologist Daniel Jaffee.

When author Will Harris inherited his family’s farm, he also took on the conventional practices that came with it—but he took a big gamble and is now practicing regenerative agriculture and working with nature, not against it.

Sound interesting?

Wray’s book, “Generation Dread: Finding Purpose in an Age of Climate Crisis,” Jaffee’s book, “Unbottled: The Fight against Plastic Water and for Water Justice,” and Harris’s book, “A Bold Return to Giving A Damn: One Farm, Six Generations, and the Future of Food” are all among the 20 books included in Food Tank’s new winter book list.

The books we’re highlighting this season include a comprehensive how-to guide for preserving fresh ingredients, deeply researched analyses of food banks and how to prevent food waste, and collections of essays on building a better food system. Writers include farmers, activists, researchers, United States Senators, chefs, poets, and so many others.

The books on this list look to the past, seek to analyze the present, and lay out bold visions for the future. These books are starting points to explore new topics—go down new pathways—as you deepen your understanding of food and agriculture.

Books on the list include: “A Bold Return to Giving A Damn: One Farm, Six Generations, and the Future of Food” by Will Harris; “Barons: Money, Power, and the Corruption of America’s Food Industry” by Austin Frerick; “Food, Inc. 2: Inside the Quest for a Better Future for Food” edited by Karl Weber; “Food Waste, Food Insecurity, and the Globalization of Food Banks” by Daniel N. Warshawsky; “Generation Dread: Finding Purpose in an Age of Climate Crisis” by Britt Wray; “Globalisation and Livelihood Transformations in the Indonesian Seaweed Industry” edited by Zannie Langford; “Good Eats: 32 Writers on Eating Ethically” edited by Jennifer Cognard-Black and Melissa A. Goldthwaite; “How to Start a Farm Stop: A Pattern Language for Local Food Systems” by Kathryn Barr; “Invitation to a Banquet: The Story of Chinese Food” by Fuchsia Dunlop; “My Side of the River: An Alaska Native Story” by Elias Kelly; “Saying NO to a Farm-Free Future: The Case for an Ecological Food System and Against Manufactured Foods” by Chris Smaje; “School Food Politics in Mexico: The Corporatization of Obesity and Healthy Eating Policies” by José Tenorio; “The Preserving Garden” by Jo Turner; “TOXIC: From Factory to Food Bowl, Pet Food Is a Risky Business” by Phyllis Entis; “Ultra-Processed People: The Science Behind Food That Isn’t Food” by Chris van Tulleken; “Unbottled: The Fight against Plastic Water and for Water Justice” by Daniel Jaffee; “University Engagement with Farming Communities in Africa: Community Action Research Platforms” edited by Anthony Egeru, Megan Lindow, and Kay Muir Leresche; “What We Sow: On the Personal, Ecological, and Cultural Significance of Seeds” by Jennifer Jewell; “What if CAFOs Were History?: The Rise of Regenerative Farming” by Leo Horrigan; and “Wild, Tamed, Lost, Revived: The Surprising Story of Apples in the South” by Diane Flynt.

I hope you’ll take a look at the full list HERE.

I also want to share a recent episode of the Food Tank podcast, which features Dr. Cary Fowler, the Special Envoy for Global Food Security. He recently launched a new program in Africa called Vision for Adapted Crops and Soils, which aims to boost crop productivity and nutrition security through resilient, biodiverse agriculture.

“We’ve got to get the fundamentals right,” he said. “And the fundamentals are always going to be soils and crops.”

I couldn’t agree more. You can listen to our full conversation HERE.

What books have you been reading lately that have expanded your understanding of food and agriculture? Share them with me at danielle@foodtank.com so I can add them to my own reading list and recommend them to other Food Tankers!

Articles like the one you just read are made possible through the generosity of Food Tank members. Can we please count on you to be part of our growing movement? Become a member today by clicking here.

Photo courtesy of Redd F, Unsplash

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Through the expansion of the online Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits, grocery retailers including Amazon are making it easier for low-income families to access the foods they need. 

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, Amazon was among a handful of companies working with the U.S. Department of Agriculture on a pilot program that allowed shoppers to use their SNAP benefits online. The new platform allowed eaters to purchase groceries from participating retailers and have them shipped directly to their front doors.

But by March of 2020, when governments were advising that everyone stay home, the program was still only available in select states. “We understood that this very vital subsidy for food was not available beyond brick and mortar,” Nancy Dalton, the Head of Community Experience and Customer Marketing for Amazon Access, tells Food Tank. 

The pandemic fueled the expansion of the program as the need “to get as many states online as possible,” became more apparent, Dalton says. Today, consumers can use Online SNAP in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. 

At Amazon, Online SNAP falls under Amazon Access, a suite of programs and services that Dalton and her colleagues design and implement to expand access to food and other basic necessities. 

For Dalton, whose family relied on SNAP benefits for a time, this work is personal. “I had to go to the corner store with the brown and purple money to get food for our household,” she tells Food Tank. “And I saw my mother hold her head down and feel ashamed about that. And even me, as a kid, I was like ‘Oh, I hate this money because it makes us look different.’”

Dalton believes that Online SNAP is a powerful advancement that allows eaters, regardless of their income, to shop without feeling how she once did. This program “allows people who receive [SNAP] the dignity to order within their home where no one knows what type of payment you’re using,” she tells Food Tank.

That’s why the Amazon Access team is also working to spread awareness of this option to communities. “A lot of what we do both online, but mostly at the grassroots level, is to spend time actually walking people through the process…step by step,” Dalton says. From there, “we watch it in action. And then we continuously build on our instruction mechanisms and our communication mechanisms to make sure that they’re covering all of the needs of those who might be digitally adept and those who might actually need a little bit more help.”

Listen to the full conversation with Nancy Dalton on “Food Talk with Dani Nierenberg” to hear about overcoming the initial skepticism many eaters expressed around online grocery shopping,  how Amazon Access is partnering with community-based organizations to increase their impact, and Dalton’s focus on Food is Medicine programs to help more households access nutritious foods that meet their needs. 

Articles like the one you just read are made possible through the generosity of Food Tank members. Can we please count on you to be part of our growing movement? Become a member today by clicking here.

Photo courtesy of Eduardo Soares, Unsplash

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(Ramallah) As the Israeli genocide war reaches Day 113, the humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip has escalated to unprecedented levels due to the Israeli occupation actions, which are being referred to as a genocide war. The toll on human life and well-being is devastating and continues to grow daily. The casualty figures are now at a staggering 27,000 lives lost, a number that is deeply distressing in its magnitude. Among these, the most affected are the most vulnerable: children and women, who constitute the majority of the over 70,000 injured.

The situation is further exacerbated by the intensifying blockade imposed by Israeli forces. This blockade has severely restricted access to essential resources like food, clean water, and medical supplies. The consequences of these restrictions are dire, with over 2 million Palestinians now facing acute hunger. This figure illustrates the extensive reach of the crisis, affecting virtually every individual and family in the Gaza Strip.

Amidst this harrowing backdrop, the Union of Agricultural Work Committees (UAWC) is actively working to mitigate the effects of this humanitarian disaster. Despite facing enormous challenges, including logistical hurdles and resource limitations under the stringent blockade, the UAWC is unwavering in its commitment. Their campaign efforts are not just a response to immediate needs but a crucial lifeline for thousands of Palestinians, offering hope and support in a situation where both are in short supply.

The UAWC’s campaign is a testament to the resilience and determination of those striving to provide relief and support in the face of overwhelming adversity. Their work underscores the critical need for continued international attention and aid to address the growing humanitarian needs in the Gaza Strip. The UAWC’s efforts represent not just material assistance but also significant moral support for the people affected, reinforcing the message that they are not forgotten amidst the ongoing war.

Call for Continued Support

As the humanitarian crisis in Gaza intensifies with each passing day, the Union of Agricultural Work Committees (UAWC) urgently calls for heightened global support. The dire situation, marked by widespread hunger, relentless blockade, and continuous bombardment, has led to a catastrophic scenario where thousands of Palestinians face the imminent risk of starvation and death.

This escalating crisis has not only caught the attention of the international community but has also compelled the International Court of Justice to consider precautionary measures to halt what is being termed a genocide war. There is a growing foundation for an international investigation into the actions of the Israeli occupation, suspected of committing genocide in Gaza.

To join us in this crucial mission and contribute to a cause that is more than just aid—it’s a fight for survival—please visit UAWC’s Campaign Link. Your support at this moment can save lives and provide hope to thousands suffering under these extreme conditions. Every contribution can make a difference in preventing a large-scale humanitarian disaster.

Download and Read full report

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New publication by GRAIN and La Via Campesina Southern and Eastern Africa

February 2, 2024

Tanzania was one of the most heavily targeted countries of a huge scramble for farmland around the world that followed the food and financial crises of 2008 and that was supposed to help solve global food insecurity. The large farm projects, which became a strategy of choice for donors, multinational corporations and some governments, ultimately caused more harm than good by exacerbating land conflicts and destroying people’s livelihoods. In Tanzania, most of these projects soon collapsed and caused miseries for small farmers. But, despite this tragic record, Tanzania’s government is pursuing another round of foreign agribusiness investment by turning hundreds of thousands of hectares of lands into block farms where corporations will produce export crops, not local foods for the people. With China looking to Tanzania as a new supply source for soybeans, the stage could be set for another wave of land grabs, with dire consequences for Tanzania’s small farmers.

Also Available in French and Swahili

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La Via Campesina kicked off the year by participating in various mobilizations to defend peasant rights and denounce corporate food systems and Free Trade Agreements.

In Europe, sparked by peasants’ dissatisfaction over the elimination of subsidies for agricultural diesel and tax exemptions for agricultural vehicles in Germany, deeper political concerns have surfaced. AbL, a member of La Via Campesina in Germany, presented a 6-point agricultural policy plan with measures to quickly and effectively ease the burden on farms. In a new petition, they call on Chancellor Scholz and ministers Özdemir and Lindner to change the course of agricultural policy and reinforce farm diversity with effective measures.

In France, La Confédération Paysanne denounced the serious impact of neo-liberalism and agribusiness on peasant remuneration. Joining nationwide mobilizations, they called for a break with free trade agreements and demanded the effective application of the Unfair Trading Prices (UTP) directive and a ban on selling below production costs at European level, guaranteed prices, and real support for agroecological transition.

In Spain, COAG staged protests in Madrid, demanding fair prices and opposing the EU-MERCOSUR trade agreement. They also called for simplifying the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) and implementing measures to support farmers, such as agricultural insurance and facilitating young peasant farmers’ access to land. They fought against land speculation and addressed environmental concerns, including droughts in agricultural lands and animal health.

In a united voice, European peasants gathered in Belgium on February 1, responding to the call from FUGEA and ECVC, participating in a massive protest against European agricultural policies. They demanded the cessation of negotiations for a trade agreement between the European Union and Mercosur. Furthermore, they denounced market deregulation, the unfair distribution of subsidies from the Common Agricultural Policy of Europe (CAP), deregulation of genetically modified seeds and carbon markets, and the lack of initiatives for agroecological transition amid the climate crisis.

Throughout January, La Via Campesina continued its solidarity campaign with Palestine, focusing on the critical situation in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. In collaboration with the Union of Agricultural Work Committees (UAWC), a member of La Via Campesina in Palestine, support was provided to peasants to ensure food availability amid the genocide perpetrated by Israel.

In East Africa, concerns about food protection led to discussions on the role of youth in promoting agroecology during the 1st Agroecology Conference for journalists and communicators organized by ESAFF Uganda in Kampala on January 25. Representatives from five East African countries completed a 12-week course on agroecology.

In Senegal, on January 25, the National Council for Consultation and Cooperation of Rural Areas (CNCR) called for the mobilization of 2,000 peasants to create social conditions for improving financial governance, access to financing, professional integration of rural youth, and a review of the provisions of the Agro-Silvo-Pastoral Law.

At the end of January, CNOP-Mali provided a three-day training course for around 30 women from women’s cooperatives in the regions of Kayes, Koulikoro, Sikasso, Ségou, and Mopti. The purpose was to train women engaged in the transformation of agricultural products in negotiation and marketing techniques.

In Togo, CTOP Togo hosted a promotional workshop focused on integrating pastoralism into Communal Development Plans and promoting peaceful management of natural resources. With the support of the Network of Peasant and Agricultural Producers’ Organizations of West Africa (ROPPA), this event involved participants from Benin, Togo, Ghana, and Ivory Coast. The main goal was to improve the safety of pastoral mobility and land tenure for agropastoralists and herders in the central corridor of West Africa.

On January 4, Mauritanian peasant women from the Union of Mauritanian Farmers held a second demonstration in Bassengdi, Brakna region, to express solidarity with peasants victims of a shooting by unknown assailants. During the protest, they demanded justice, punishment for those responsible, and greater protection for peasants and their properties, especially during the harvest season.

On January 25, in Rabat, the National Federation of the Agricultural Sector (FNSA) opened the 16th National Forum of Agronomist Engineers at the headquarters of the Moroccan Labor Union. The aim was to promote national engineering and improve conditions for engineers, recognizing their vital role in addressing drought and tackling water and food sovereignty challenges.

In news coming in from Latina America, in Haiti, protests against Prime Minister Ariel Henry have intensified due to public dissatisfaction with his lack of action to address the growing insecurity in Port-au-Prince and other areas affected by criminal gangs. In a joint statement, La Via Campesina organizations in Haiti demanded his resignation for a political transition to achieve social peace. Simultaneously, a judgment by the Court of Justice declared the Kenyan government-backed police mission in Haiti unconstitutional, also prohibiting the deployment of Kenyan police to any other country. A harsh setback for the Core Group led by the American embassy in Haiti, potentially affecting their plans in the country with the involvement of Kenya police.

In Panama, on January 18, the Panamanian Peasant Union (UCP) commemorated 16 years of advancing as a national peasant organization. In a statement, they highlighted the economic and social difficulties faced by peasants, especially in opposing harmful projects like First Quantum mining in Donoso, where they called for operations to be shut down. Despite the electoral year, they announced their active participation, committed to social struggle, and strengthening popular unity to build a just society.

Further south, in Argentina, on January 24, MNCI Somos Tierra participated in the national strike to protest against the DNU and the Omnibus Law promoted by the ultraliberal government of Javier Milei. These law contemplates the deregulation of economic sectors such as labor, trade, and health, privatization of public companies, and concession of natural resources, raising concerns about its impact on indigenous peasant families, national sovereignty and food production.

In Peru during January, La CNA rejected the amendment to the forestry law promoted by the Peruvian Congress. This law threatens forests, flora and fauna, and indigenous peoples. They called for shelving the norm and considering the popular will expressed in a statement with over 4,000 signatures. They urged the Executive to develop a comprehensive proposal and respect indigenous prior consultation. However, ignoring the requests, the President of Congress signed the bill on January 10, without respecting its reconsideration status on the institution’s website.

In Paraguay, the Organization for the Struggle for Land (OLT) denounced a violent attack suffered by the peasant community of Chorrito “Cerro Guy” in Carayao-Caaguazu. Civilians armed with uniforms of the National Police tried to evict the community, forcibly detaining two of its members. It is suspected that German businessmen may be behind this attempt, seeking to intimidate the community to usurp the land for industrial livestock farming. OLT urgently calls on public institutions and the international community to pay attention to this complaint. This episode reflects a shared reality that places Paraguay as the most unequal country in land distribution.

In Brazil and El Salvador, two historical organizations in the peasant movement celebrated anniversaries in January. The Landless Workers Movement of Brazil marked 40 years since its founding, when the first land occupations took place in Brazil; and Fecoracen celebrated 39 years, highlighting cooperativism and Peasant Agriculture as the only path to Food Sovereignty. LVC salutes the commitment and significant contributions that both organizations have made to the construction of the global peasant movement.

In Canada, the National Farmers Union (NFU) is strengthening its internationalist vision with two webinars. The first, held on February 7, addressed the genocide in Gaza and the West Bank, shared by Palestinian farmers. The second, on February 12, will present the agreements of the 8th Conference of La Via Campesina. An invitation to promote the global and local vision of the peasant movement for solidarity and food sovereignty.

In Asian news, in India, the Bhartiya Kisan Union informed of a national strike on February 16, addressing various issues, highlighting the non-implementation of a law guaranteeing the Minimum Support Price (MSP) for crops. Additionally, farmer groups urge traders and transporters to support the cause by participating in a strike on that day.

On January 17, in Sri Lanka, MONLAR joined a demonstration with various civil society organizations calling for the rejection of the proposed Microfinance and Credit Regulatory Authority Act. Groups argue that the proposal does not align with the objectives for those affected by microfinance institutions or regulate their fraudulent activities, potentially worsening the economic situation of community organizations in rural areas.

The All Nepal Peasant Federation (ANPFA) continued its ongoing efforts to aid and rehabilitate communities affected by the devastating earthquake that hit the country last November. Blankets, utensils, and other aid materials were distributed to farmers affected by the natural disaster, where at least 153 people died, and over 400 were injured. The earthquakes caused widespread damage to infrastructure in Nepal, including roads, bridges, schools, agricultural fields, and hospitals. Over 67,000 families were displaced, and at least 35,000 homes were damaged or destroyed.

In Indonesia, the Serikat Petani Indonesia (SPI) warned of falling rice prices due to cheaper import policies. From November 2023 to January 2024, rice prices have dropped between 7% and 24% for farmers. On January 19, they protested, calling for the rejection of imports, the repeal of the Omnibus Law, and the restoration of provisions in favor of farmers, urging government rice reserves to come directly from local farmers and requesting an increase in the government’s purchase price for rice.

In South Korea, the KPL News, led by the Korean Peasants League, expressed concerns about an amendment to the Grain Management Act. Instead of promoting the distribution of locally produced rice and soybeans, the amendment favors the import of rice and beans. The article also highlights the significant reduction of tariffs by the government, claiming price stabilization, even for imported fruits, where there is no direct competition nationally. There are concerns that traditional fruit markets may collapse due to unfair competition from imported products.

Finally, in Thailand, the Assembly of the Poor reported a government-led fact-finding mission that included testimonies from over 500 people in fishing communities in Pak Muen. The investigation concluded that around 2000 community members would be directly affected by the construction of the Pak Muen dam in the Ubon Ratchathani province.

If there are any important updates that we have missed, please send the links to communications@viacampesina.org so that we can include them in the next edition. We only include updates from La Via Campesina members. For a comprehensive update on various initiatives from Janury 2024, please visit our website. You can also find the previous editions of our news wrap on our website. In addition, condensed versions of our newswraps are accessible as a podcast on Spotify.

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Brussels, 1st February 2024 – Hundreds of peasant farmers from European Coordination Via Campesina (ECVC) have assembled with their tractors in Place du Luxembourg, Brussels, alongside more than 30 civil society organisations to call for an end to the EU-Mercosur deal and other free trade agreements (FTAs), and ensure fair prices for farmers.

Small-scale farmers from across Europe answered the call for European mobilisation in Brussels, sent by ECVC and one of its Belgian organisations FUGEA on Monday, in order to drive forward concrete change for farmers on the doorstep of European policy makers. For ECVC, Europe’s neo-liberal policies are the main cause of the discontent of farmers that has been seen at the national level in recent weeks.

ECVC peasant farmers also underline that they come to Brussels not to destroy anything, but to bring concrete proposals for the future of food and farming in Europe. Through coordinated European farmer mobilisations, which have also seen strong support from civil society, we want to put the demands of farmers at the centre of EU decision-making.

Commissioner for Agriculture Janusz Wojciechowski and the cabinet of Charles Michel, President of the European Council, will meet ECVC after the mobilisation to discuss these demands. However, despite multiple requests since Monday, Ursula Von der Leyen and David Clarinval failed to respond to the request to meet. Particularly in the context of the recently launched Strategic Dialogue on Agriculture, the lack of political will to create transparent spaces for farmers to address the incoherencies that they live on a daily basis is unacceptable.

For ECVC, the epitome of these incoherencies is the continued negotiations of the EU-Mercosur FTA. As Morgan Ody, farmer in Brittany and member of the ECVC Coordinating Committee, underlined in her opening speech at the manifestation, “FTAs have pushed farmers towards export-oriented production, with prices that do not cover production costs and policies that favour large-scale industrial actors. The EU-Mercosur agreement must be brought to an end definitively, alongside all FTAs we want a new international trade framework based on food sovereignty.”.

Instead, small-scale farmers must be supported by market regulation that guarantee agricultural prices are stable and higher than production costs. The EU must re-establish intervention prices and minimum prices for all products. The directive on Unfair Trading Practices (UTP) must be implemented, with the Spanish food chain law used as a positive example. It must also ensure a sufficient budget and an equitable distribution of CAP aid to facilitate a fair transition towards agroecology and sustainable practices. Farmers must also be supported in this transition by minimising the administrative burden.

More information and pictures from the mobilisation here .

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The Rockefeller Foundation recently announced that it will put an additional US$80 million toward Food is Medicine (FIM) programs in the United States over the next five years. The new commitment will bring the Foundation’s total funding of FIM interventions to over US$100 million. 

“There is no time to waste for unlocking Food is Medicine’s great potential to advance health equity by improving nutrition security,” says Devon Klatell, Vice President for Food, The Rockefeller Foundation.

More than half of the new funding will go toward the Health Care by Food Initiative, a multi-year collaboration with the American Heart Association. Through the partnership they are working to identify effective Food is Medicine approaches that incorporate nutritious food into healthcare settings.

Additionally, The Rockefeller Foundation plans to invest in public, private, and nonprofit organizations to build better infrastructure to support the growth of FIM, educate for better policies to expand to accelerate action, and improve access to accurate information about FIM. 

During its inaugural Food is Medicine Summit, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) also signed a memorandum of understanding with The Rockefeller Foundation to accelerate the adoption of FIM interventions. 

FIM solutions are designed for integration into the healthcare system to treat, manage, and prevent chronic disease, which affect roughly 6 in 10 Americans, according to the U.C. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Programs include medically tailored meals and produce prescription programs.

Elizabeth Yee, Executive Vice President of Programs at the Rockefeller Foundation said during the Summit that their latest announcements mark the next step in their investment in community wellbeing. “We’re in the next frontier of what we’re trying to do.”

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Photo courtesy of Edgar Castrejo, Unsplash

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Local Foods Mohawk Valley (LFMV), located in Clinton, New York, wants to forge a future for online farmers’ markets in a post pandemic world. The organization is motivated to increase access to local food and during LFMV’s first year of operation has also boosted farmers’ lifestyles, community relations, and the local economy.

LFMV launched in spring of 2022. Their online store is open from Wednesday morning through Sunday evening, allowing consumers to shop across categories or farms. Once the order window closes on Sunday evening, farmers have until Tuesday afternoon to harvest and collect order requests on their farms before dropping off their product at a local church in Clinton. Shoppers can pick up their order Tuesday evening in an hour and a half long curbside delivery window.

Online farmers’ markets grew in popularity nationwide at the height of COVID-19 as consumers craved localism at socially safe distances, according to eMarketer. Jack Riffle, founder of LFMV, says their success in establishing year-round community access to local food has propelled the online market into a flourishing existence in the wake of the pandemic.

Riffle wanted to create the online market with both farmers and community members in mind. There is an in-person market in Clinton’s village center, but it operates seasonally and is only open between 10:00AM- and 4:00PM on Thursdays.

“If you’re someone who works a regular 9 to 5 you just can’t go to the farmers market and are essentially excluded from access to local food,” Riffle tells Food Tank. By offering an online marketplace in addition to the in-person one, Riffle hopes LFMV can meet the needs of working families and families with children.

The winter can also be challenging for farmers. “Sometimes winter sales can be quite lean because you don’t have these regular outlets for food distribution,” Riffle tells Food Tank, “so an online farmers market can bridge that gap and allow farmers to continue having income and customers to continue having access to local food.”

Riffle has also found that having an online option for farmers’ markets has helped increase productivity on the farm. Through working with farmers, he has found that the time spent by farmers selling their goods at markets directly detracts from their efficiency on the farm. He believes the addition of an online platform is an easy win for farmers, opening valuable time in their day while also reducing food waste.

“You are only harvesting or packaging what you’re selling, you’re only dropping off, not standing and waiting to see if a customer comes or doesn’t come,” says Riffle. “The idea of a guaranteed sale reduces some of the stress from a farmer’s perspective.”

Suzie Jones from Jones Family Farm was one of LFMV’s first vendors. Jones Family Farm has been a vendor at Clinton’s in person market for over ten years. They began selling online for the first time when the pandemic hit, joining together with other local farms in a “Farmer’s Park-It,” a model that provided a short 30-minute weekly pickup window in a shopping plaza parking lot.

While the “Farmer’s Park-It” helped Jones Family Farm stay afloat during the peak of the pandemic, Jones recalls challenges in maintaining and marketing an independent online store. LFMV has since alleviated some of these responsibilities.

“I am spending considerably less time putting together the weekly orders than I did for the ‘Farmer’s Park-It,’” Jones tells Food Tank. “I can concentrate on telling our story and sharing recipes rather than pushing people to place an order.”

While access and efficiency are at the heart of LFMV’s mission, Riffle has found that the drop off and pick up windows at the church have become a meeting space for Clinton community members. According to Riffle, this congregation has helped foster relationships among community members, including students at the local college, Hamilton.

Riffle hopes to continue building community relationships and supporting Clinton residents’ access to healthy and local food.

“We’ve kept over US$50,000 in the local economy,” says Riffle. “That money has gone straight to the farmers. Without LFMV, where would that money go?”

This article was written Liza Greene.

Articles like the one you just read are made possible through the generosity of Food Tank members. Can we please count on you to be part of our growing movement? Become a member today by clicking here.

Photo courtesy of Shelley Pauls, Unsplash

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REQUEST FOR EXPRESSION OF INTEREST (EOI) TO UNDERTAKE A BASELINE STUDY FOR TRANSFORMING THE AFRICAN FOOD SYSTEM TO SUSTAINABILITY (TAFS) – “MY FOOD IS AFRICAN” Introduction: The Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa (AFSA), with support from the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA), is scheduled to undertake a Baseline for a three-year project titled, […]

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This February, RAFI is creating a social media campaign that posts weekly in honor of Black History Month from an agricultural perspective.

The post Black History Month 2024 appeared first on Rural Advancement Foundation International-USA.

Evolution of the National Network CalCAN launched the National Healthy Soils Policy Network in 2018 as a way to build upon the momentum of California’s early climate-resilient agriculture policies and support similar action in other states and at the federal

The post National Healthy Soils Policy Network: Five years of impact on state soil health policy appeared first on CalCAN.

In a webinar held on December 18, 2023, the Indonesian Peasants Union (SPI) commemorated the fifth anniversary of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Peasants and Other People Working in Rural Areas (UNDROP). The event shed light on the ongoing struggles faced by peasants globally and emphasized the crucial role of UNDROP in addressing these challenges.

SPI also invited current and historical leaders of the movement to provide insights into the significance of UNDROP and the efforts required to ensure its effective implementation. Among the speakers were Henry Saragih, the Chairperson of SPI and a senior leader of La Via Campesina; Morgan Ody, General Coordinator of La Via Campesina; Anuka da Silva from the International Coordination Committee (ICC) of La Via Campesina for South Asia; and Zainal Arifin Fuad, SPI Chairman for Foreign Affairs, and also an ICC member.

Henry Saragih, Chairperson of SPI, commenced the event by highlighting the arduous journey undertaken by SPI, La Via Campesina, and other international movements and civil society actors to bring about UNDROP. He stressed the need for continuous efforts in the face of persistent challenges. Saragih shared that after 17 years of relentless advocacy, UNDROP was adopted by the United Nations in New York on December 17, 2018.

Morgan Ody reinforced the importance of UNDROP, noting that it has evolved beyond a mere declaration. He shared that in October 2023, the UN Human Rights Council established a working group dedicated to monitoring UNDROP’s implementation at the national level. Ody emphasized the responsibility of each country to endorse UNDROP in laws and constitutions, making it a tangible reality for peasants worldwide.

Zainal Arifin Fuad underscored the urgency of implementing UNDROP given the global challenges, including ongoing crises like the conflict in Ukraine and Palestine, and the looming climate crisis. Fuad expressed gratitude for the establishment of the UNDROP Working Group, acknowledging the support from countries like Indonesia.

Anuka da Silva provided insights into the activities undertaken by South Asian peasant movements to champion UNDROP. These activities included translating the declaration into local languages, engaging in lobbying efforts, and organizing education and training programs.

Afgan Fadilla, one of SPI’s key youth leaders campaigning for Peasants’ Rights, briefly highlighted the struggles faced by peasants in Indonesia, emphasizing the need to persist in advocating for UNDROP’s implementation. He mentioned ongoing efforts such as lobbying, producing annual reports on rights violations, education initiatives, and peaceful protests.

Ibrahim Cidibe from Mali, also part of ICC West Asia, spoke about their regional efforts to campaign for UNDROP. Cidibe expressed enthusiasm about joining the global movement, organizing meetings, and training sessions to promote the declaration in Africa.

The webinar, attended by SPI members from various regions and representatives from LVC peasants’ movements globally, highlighted the ongoing commitment to realizing the principles laid out in UNDROP. As the world marks five years since its adoption, the event served as a platform to assess progress, acknowledge achievements, and reinforce the collective responsibility to protect the rights of peasants and rural communities.

This is an edited version of a longer article that appeared on the SPI website in December 2023.

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Maine lobster fishers recently won reprieve on new federal regulations to protect the endangered North Atlantic right whales. According to the Maine’s Lobstermen Association, The regulations could dramatically change lobster fishing practices, impacting fishers and Maine’s island communities who depend upon this resource.

The North Atlantic right whale population is declining, with 340 individuals left and fewer than 70 breeding females, according to the Center for Biological Diversity. The Center finds fishing gear to be a leading cause in the species’ spiral towards extinction.

“During New England’s year-round lobster season, there are over 1 million vertical fishing lines connected to millions of heavy traps that rest on the ocean floor,” Ben Grundy, Associate Oceans Campaigner from the Center for Biological Diversity’s Ocean program, tells Food Tank. “This creates a dangerous maze for North Atlantic right whales and other marine animals to navigate without becoming entangled.”

The Center, alongside other conservation groups, spearheaded a series of federal initiatives in an effort to implement stricter fishing gear regulations and reduce the lobster fishery’s threat to right whales. According to Grundy, the debate around the federal fishing regulations comes down to one key question about National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Fisheries: Are they “adhering to its responsibilities to protect North Atlantic right whales as mandated by the Endangered Species Act and Marine Mammal Protection Act?”

In 2022, a federal court ruled in favor of the Center and other groups, finding that NOAA had violated the Endangered Species Act and Marine Mammal Protection Act, and was not doing enough to reduce the lobster industry’s threat to right whales.

But later that year, Maine’s congressional delegation inserted a six-year delay on new federal lobster fishing regulations into a US$1.7 trillion spending bill passed by Congress. The delay will avoid closures that could destroy the industry while allowing time for more research into how often whales enter prime fishing areas.

And in 2023, a federal appeals court side with the lobster industry, ordering the National Marine Fishers Series to re-work the most recent federal regulations to protect the right whales.

Grundy and other whale conservationists believe that the recent decisions are harmful for the species. “This six-year delay prioritizes the profits of the American lobster fishery over the protection of critically endangered North Atlantic right whales,” Grundy tells Food Tank.

But Maine’s community of lobster fishers are encouraged.

“It gives us time to take a breath,” Steve Train, a commercial lobster fisher from Long Island, Maine, tells Food Tank. “Some people think it might be the end of it all, but I think most people see a little light now that we can work under.”

According to Maine Lobster, Maine’s 5,000 self employed lobster fishers contribute an estimated US$1.5 billion to the state’s economy. Thus the proposed protection regulations could have devastating ripple effects for Maine’s lobster fishers, and the global lobster industry.

“In the last 25 years, there has been one documented entanglement of a North Atlantic right whale in Maine fishing gear,” Train says. “There have been zero documented fatalities of right whales in Maine lobster gear in the history of the fishery.”

According to Train, conservationists’ criticisms of Maine’s lobster industry are primarily rooted in their utilization of a co-occurrence model. This model calculates the likelihood of whale entanglements in Maine based on quantity of gear and probability, rather than historical entanglement data.

“Because we have the most gear and the most vertical lines, we strike red on the co-occurrence model and the more data we give them the higher we spike, even though they don’t have data on the whales and even though we’ve never killed one,” says Train.

Currently, conservationists and Maine lobster fishers both plan to use the next six years to gather additional data and bolster their respective arguments in time for the next regulatory debate.

For conservationist groups like the Center of Biological Diversity, this means the ongoing pursuit of research, public education, and advocacy for a federal mandate that compels a shift from traditional fishing gear to pop-up or on-demand gear in trap fisheries.

“This alternative fishing gear removes the need for persistent vertical lines connecting traps to surface buoys, allowing marine animals to move freely,” Grundy tells Food Tank. “It’s the only way to allow fishing to continue while eliminating the risk of entanglement.”

As the Maine lobster industry looks ahead to the next six years, Train believes further research and scientific evidence will demonstrate that they are not the source of the problem. In 2020, Maine lobster fishers adopted purple lines to mark their traps, hoping to prove that Maine is not responsible for whale deaths. In the spring of 2022, federal regulations went into effect requiring color-coded rope sections by state—purple for Maine, yellow for New Hampshire, red for Massachusetts, and silver gray for Rhode Island.

“We have done so much to maintain this resource for years to be sustainable,” says Train. “Nobody has ever doubted our practice or tactics, so to have some of these other organizations come in and attack our sustainability criteria because of something else has been a [challenge].”

This article was written Liza Greene.

Articles like the one you just read are made possible through the generosity of Food Tank members. Can we please count on you to be part of our growing movement? Become a member today by clicking here.

Photo courtesy of Nils Caliandro

The post Maine Lobster Industry Faces off against Conservationists over Whale Protections appeared first on Food Tank.

Colorado Governor Jared Polis’s recent State Budget Proposal includes investment in the state’s agriculture industry. The Proposal increases funding for the Colorado Department of Agriculture, allocating US$450,000 towards some of their most influential projects and programs, including the Agricultural Workforce Development Program (AWDP).

The budget’s release follows the recently signed House Bill 23-1094 to extend AWDP in Colorado. The program, established in 2018, trains interns for Colorado farmers, ranchers, and agricultural businesses and aims to build a well-trained workforce for the state’s agricultural industry. The House Bill extends the program, which was about to expire, for another five years. It also lengthens the duration of internships from six months to one year, giving apprentices experience across all seasons.

AWDP was established to encourage more young people to pursue careers in farming. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), farmers in the U.S. are getting older, with the average age of food producers over 57 years of age.

“There aren’t enough younger people deciding to choose careers in agriculture,” Colorado State Senator Dylan Roberts tells Food Tank. Roberts says that a career in the sector is becoming less financially viable for young people.

Research from the University of Colorado shows that farms are declining in number and increasing in size across the United States. And the USDA reports that there were 200,000 fewer farms in 2022 than in 2007. This shift away from family-operated farms poses challenges for young people, particularly those with high student loan debt, to establish a livelihood in rural areas, according to a report for the Colorado Rural Health Center.

“The concept around the Agricultural Workforce Development Program was to create an entryway into agriculture for young and beginning farmers and ranchers” Kate Greenberg, Colorado’s Commissioner of Agriculture, tells Food Tank.

AWDP provides financial incentives to farms, ranches, and agricultural businesses to hire interns and provide them with the hands-on training needed to begin a career in agriculture. According to Greenberg, the program allows beginning farmers to gain experience in the field without needing to have the capital to purchase land.

“We know that access to land and capital are the top barriers young farmers face, but that also includes education, training, and workforce development,” says Greenberg.

Since the start of the program, AWDP has funded over 50 apprenticeships on Colorado farms and ranches, according to Greenberg.

“That’s 50 young people who have had that paid, hands-on experience and are being brought into agriculture in a way that they weren’t able to before because of the program,” Greenberg tells Food Tank.

According to Greenberg and Roberts, AWDP is part of a bigger strategy tackling issues around access to land, capital, and education. The Colorado Department of Agriculture initiated the NextGen Ag Leadership Grant Program, which was also included in Governor Polis’ Proposal, in the fall of 2022. The program aims to provide grants to agricultural organizations and educational institutions that support developmental opportunities for the next generation of agriculturalists.

The agency also launched a US$20 million revolving loan fund to help finance land access for beginning farmers and ranchers. They have helped more than 80 individuals access land and expand their businesses within the first year of the program, according to Greenberg.

AWDP and the Department of Agriculture’s other initiatives specially aim to support Colorado youth as farming practices change in the face of the climate crisis.

“Stewardship, succession, profitability, and resilience all go hand and hand,” Greenberg tells Food Tank. “We know young people are going to be dealing with challenges we can’t define yet because of the rate of change and variability with climate change.”

According to Roberts, AWDP also benefits farmers and ranchers as the interns are able to contribute new knowledge and strategies for climate mitigation and adaptation practices on farms.

“It gives me hope that the future generation in agriculture is much more environmentally minded and much more willing to try new things that will help with water efficiency, drought resilience, and soil health,” says Roberts. “This internship program is one of the ways that’s helping promote that in the agriculture industry.”

According to Roberts, 90 percent of the interns who have participated in AWDP now have intentions to continue with a career in agriculture.

This article was written Liza Greene.

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Photo courtesy of the Colorado Department of Agriculture

The post Extending the Agriculture Workforce Development Program: Colorado’s Bold Move to Secure the Future of Farming appeared first on Food Tank.

At a recent Summit during the Sundance Film Festival, Food Tank and 360 Communications presented a program dedicated to the intersection of food systems, the environment, and the arts. Panelists discussed the power of storytelling to drive change and the new documentaries emerging to spotlight solutions for eaters and the planet. 

“Every problem has a solution,” says Josh Tickell, one of the filmmakers behind “Common Ground,” a new documentary that profiles farmers across the United States using regenerative agriculture practices to heal the Earth. “And so if a film isn’t conveying a solution, we’re in the old paradigm of environmental documentary storytelling.”

“Wild Hope,” for example, is a multi-episode series that follows changemakers around the world working to reverse biodiversity loss. “Abundance,” tells the story of the college students who mobilized at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic to connect farms with surplus produce to food banks. And “Gather” portrays the growing movement of Native Americans to reclaim their spiritual, political and cultural identities through food.

For many of the filmmakers behind these documentaries, their goal is to energize and inspire viewers to take action. 

“The series was never supposed to be a series,” says Jared Lipworth, Executive Producer of “Wild Hope” and Head of HHMI Tangled Bank Studios. “It was an anchor for a movement. And the movement was to get people to get activated.” On the series’ website, audiences can find action items tied to the theme of each episode. 

And the team behind “Common Ground” is using momentum around the film to help build support for regenerative agriculture. They are currently offering resources to help consumers eat more sustainably and are pushing forward a movement to regenerate 100 million acres of land in the U.S.

Some speakers, including Sanjay Rawal, the filmmaker behind “Gather” are also excited for the documentaries that have yet to be made. “We need to find ways to get cameras into kids’ hands…and tell them that what they’re doing is going to be critical for their movement.”

Listen to a special series of conversations from the Summit available on “Food Talk with Dani Nierenberg,” to hear more about the films that are highlighting food systems solutions, how chefs are taking on leadership roles in their communities, and the process of turning hours of footage into a full-length documentary. 

Articles like the one you just read are made possible through the generosity of Food Tank members. Can we please count on you to be part of our growing movement? Become a member today by clicking here.

Photo courtesy of Ngobeni Communications, Unsplash

The post Solutions on Screen: The Power of Documentaries to Spur Food Systems Change appeared first on Food Tank.

“A changing climate, characterized by more frequent and severe extreme events such as heatwaves, droughts, and extreme rainfall, will affect U.S. agriculture, food systems,  and rural communities.” That is the opening line of the recently released Fifth National Climate Assessment’s section on agriculture.

As farmers, we are concerned. Whether our crops come to harvest or our livestock make it to market is directly tied to the cycles of nature that we try our best to work within. The climate is changing, and it’s time to take that seriously.

Each year, we lose 4.6 tons of American agricultural soil per acre, costing farmers and ranchers US$44 billion annually and taxpayers nearly US$100 billion. The loss of healthy soil is both a symptom and a cause of this unfolding climate disaster, but there is a solution. 

Last year, the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) made a historic investment in agriculture and farming communities, providing nearly US$20 billion to federal conservation programs. U.S. Department of Agriculture conservation programs are popular with farmers and ranchers because these voluntary, incentive-based programs are extremely effective at providing us with the resources we need to rebuild healthy soil, improve water quality, enhance wildlife habitat, and much more. Yet, they have long been underfunded, so much so that nationally, as many as 75 percent of qualified applicants are turned away from some programs.

Farmers and ranchers are already benefiting from this investment, and in turn, the country will benefit as well. Yet now, we are hearing that this funding is at risk as members of Congress eye these funds to further subsidize our nation’s largest farms. 

Soil may not immediately come to mind as something vital to our national health, safety, and prosperity. Still, President Franklin Roosevelt once said, “The nation that destroys its soil destroys itself.” These words grow truer each year. Farmers are forced to use increasing amounts of fertilizer to salvage profit from the degraded soil. This overuse of fertilizer and chemicals saps our food of nutrients and causes vast environmental damage—pumping carbon into the atmosphere, polluting waterways, and hampering farming and daily life. At the same time, skyrocketing input costs squeeze farmers’ margins, hurting rural economies and jacking up food prices for consumers. 

These issues transcend politics; it’s a matter of survival. Farmers like us are on the front lines, and these threats endanger our livelihoods. The IRA provided a much-needed resource to fight back, in the form of financial support to regenerate our lands, not degrade them for profit.

Nine years ago, Rick observed how extreme weather eroded his fields in Indiana, where he cultivated his row crops like corn, alfalfa, and wheat. Devastating weather became routine, decimating crops year after year. As a fifth-generation farmer, Rick knew he had to make a change to ensure the family farm’s future. Rick did some digging, leading him to discover regenerative agriculture.

Regenerative agriculture is an approach to farming and ranching that emulates nature through fundamental principles and practices. It involves keeping ground covered, integrating animals, eliminating tilling, and planting cover crops and perennials, resulting in healthier soil, increased biodiversity, reduced chemical inputs, and resilience to climate change.  What started as a way to keep the family farm alive became a path towards a new way of life when Rick realized that regenerative agriculture not only rejuvenated his soil, but also significantly increased his profit margins. 

Wayne’s path to regenerative agriculture was also intuitive. His paternal grandparents were from farming families in Virginia and arrived in Southern New Jersey during the “Great Migration” north.  The Swansons raised a family on a small diverse farm.  Once out of college and in the workforce, Wayne instinctively did what he’d seen his relatives do: he started farming. Wayne’s grandparents showed him a blueprint for regenerative agriculture, only they didn’t have a name for it.  To Claude and Artie, it was just farming, and everything on their farm had a job to do, including soil. 

While we hold differing political views—Wayne is a Democrat, and Rick is a Republican—we’re seeing the same thing on the farms around us and across the country, the effects of a changing climate threaten to destabilize our food system more and more each year. Both have been working to advance regenerative agriculture policy at the federal level through Regenerate America.

Regenerative agriculture represents a brighter future for American farming, but we need Congress to embrace it. Millions of dollars from the IRA have already gone out the door to farmers and landowners. Congress must keep its promise to America’s farmers, protect these funds for conservation, and support the responsible stewardship of our working lands.

Farmers are resilient. We seek solutions and act decisively when confronted with challenges. We implore Washington to do the same—united on this common ground issue—and invest in a climate-resilient future. The very foundation of our nation is at stake. 

This op-ed was written Wayne Swanson Jr., a cattle rancher outside Atlanta, Georgia, an advocate for Black farmers, and a Democrat; and Rick Clark, a Republican fifth-generation farmer with 7,000 acres of row crops in Warren County, Indiana. Both are leaders in Regenerate America, a coalition convened by Kiss the Ground.

Articles like the one you just read are made possible through the generosity of Food Tank members. Can we please count on you to be part of our growing movement? Become a member today by clicking here.

Photo courtesy of Jake Gard, Unsplash

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