Making sense of the (US) Farm Bill: an infographic

This is without doubt the best explanation of the history, structure and impact of successive US Farm Bills that I have seen.  Clear, accessible and powerful, this is a must-view for everyone concerned with the corporate food regime.

Food fight

This is an absolutely fantastic video on the food system: Go to the website, and you can download school curriculum materials as well.

Feeding nine billion

This is an interesting and thorough review of the ails of the food system, presented in an inclusive and non-confrontational style, by Evan Fraser, co-author of Empires of Food and Beef. The solutions that he offers are also very nuanced, and so it is well worth sitting down and spending 12 minutes with this presentation.

GMOs in Canada

Timur Khudaiberdiev's excellent 2 minute animation on GMOs in Canada's food system.

Michael Pollen's food rules

This RSA animation of a talk by Michael Pollen is an excellent, succinct reason why agriculture has to change.

Michael Pollan's Food Rules from Marija Jacimovic on Vimeo.

The secret history of your favourite hamburger

An excellent article that emphasizes the cruelty of the food system:

The secret history of your favourite hamburger - Opinion - Al Jazeera English

UN food envoy decries 'shocking' conditions in Canada

A hard-hitting article on what Oliver de Schutter, the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, has found on his mission to Canada, his first to an OECD country:

UN food envoy decries 'shocking' conditions in Canada

water for food

An excellent short animation from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations that shows how so much water is embedded within our food.

Raj Patel: abolish the food industry

An excellent, provocative piece by Raj Patel in February's The Atlantic makes a clarion call: abolish the food industry.

Abolish the Food Industry - The Atlantic

27 February 2012 is a global day of action: occupy our food supply. Catch more at:

http://www.occupyourfoodsupply.org/

eight ways Monsanto fails at sustainable agriculture

From the Union of Concerned Scientists in the United States, an excellent introduction to the failures of industrial agriculture by way of Monsanto.

Eight Ways Monsanto Fails at Sustainable Agriculture | Union of Concerned Scientists

the epistle of Gates and the gospel of agricultural innovation

This is an interesting analysis by Justin Sandefur of the Center for Global Development in Washington. I don't agree with all of it, but the challenge that he lays down to the Gates Foundation and their emphasis on agricultural innovation is on the mark.

The Epistle of Gates and the Gospel of Agricultural Innovation

food movements unite!

Food Movements Unite! is a new book edited by Eric Holt-Giménez and Annie Shattuck. It provides a sector by sector road map for bringing the tremendous transformative potential of the world’s food movements together into a powerful transnational force capable of ending the injustices that cause hunger.

Food Movements Unite! from Food First on Vimeo.

Congratulations to Food First for bringing together such an extraordinary range of contributors, and for facilitating a vision of a different food future.

The right to food in Canada: inputs to the forthcoming mission to Canada of the UN Special Rapporteur on the right to food

On 27 October while on mission in Korea for the United Nations Development Programme I along with several others received a request from the Office of the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food to provide inputs to frame his forthcoming mission to Canada in May 2012. As none of what I have said is confidential, I thought I would share what I think should be the focus of the mission:

i. Issues
a. continuing food insecurity is a fact of life across much of the country – the use of food banks was at a historic high in 2010 and growth was most rapid in the fastest-growing part of Canada, Alberta. More information can be found at http://www.cafb-acba.ca/default.aspx and in particular Hunger Count 2011, available at http://www.cafb-acba.ca/getmedia/34ebd534-14db-4bed-96d2-4fcadd5d9a33/HungerCount-2011-web-print-friendly.pdf.aspx?ext=.pdf. There are systemic violations of the right to food in Canada.

b. the threat to small-scale 'family' farming across the breadth of Canada continues to rise as high costs and low incomes facilitate the ongoing consolidation of large-scale export-oriented farms. More information can be found at http://www.nfu.ca, who as recently as May 2011 produced a policy brief on these processes for Ontario, available at http://www.nfu.ca/briefs/2011/farm_ontario.pdf. Despite being a massive producer of food, Canada does not have food sovereignty.

c. in western Canada the threat to small-scale 'family' farming has been deepened by the Federal Government's Bill C-18, the Marketing Freedom for Grain Farmers Act. This bill abolishes the sole-purchaser role of the Canadian Wheat Board (CWB) (which also buys barley), which currently negotiates bulk commodity prices on behalf of western grain farmers with the global grain-buying companies to whom the CWB sells. The clear intention is to enable global grain-buying companies to buy directly from farmers, forcing them into competition with each other, and thus driving down prices. While this will benefit large-scale farms that reap economies of scale, small-scale grain farmers incomes' will fall. More information can be found at http://www.nfu.ca, while the Government's position can be found at http://www4.agr.gc.ca/AAFC-AAC/display-afficher.do?id=1318619331542&lang=eng. Bill C-18 will make securing food sovereignty more difficult.

d. the consolidation of corporate concentration in input provision, food traders, processors and supermarkets is ongoing in Canada. This is clearly documented every year in Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada's An Overview of the Canadian Agriculture and Agri-Food System, a summary of which can be found at http://www4.agr.gc.ca/AAFC-AAC/display-afficher.do?id=1295963199087&lang=eng. The complete report must be ordered from the ministry. The issues surrounding corporate concentration in the food system are similar in Canada to those facing some other developed capitalist countries, and stand in clear contradiction to the concept of food sovereignty.

ii. Populations
a. aboriginal Canadians living in more remote parts of the country witness specific violations of the right to food. Food is much more expensive than in urban Canada, and particularly perishable fresh food. This can be documented at http://www.aadnc-aandc.gc.ca/eng/1100100035941, although the data is not current. Also of note is the dated http://www.gov.mb.ca/ana/food_prices/2003_northern_food_prices_report.pdf. One result of expensive fresh food is a need for food baskets to rely on processed foods, which in turn produce a concomitant tendency towards food-based health problems. For example, the link between food security and aboriginal diabetes is explicitly recognized (http://www.parl.gc.ca/HousePublications/Publication.aspx?DocId=3067091&Language=E&Mode=1), and has resulted in Federal government intervention (http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/fniah-spnia/diseases-maladies/diabete/index-eng.php).
b. in addition, over the past few decades environmental changes have reduced the supply of indigenous foods and indigenous food knowledge has more generally declined amongst aboriginal Canadians (http://www.fao.org/wairdocs/other/ai215e/AI215E04.htm). This compromises the ability of aboriginal Canadians to achieve food sovereignty.
c. in many parts of Canada access to indigenous foods requires access to lands from which aboriginal Canadians were expelled long before the 21st century. Thus, ongoing land claims across the country have implications for the right to food amongst aboriginal Canadians (http://ainc-inac.gc.ca/eng/1100100030285, http://www.aboriginalcanada.gc.ca/acp/site.nsf/eng/ao20009.html)

iii. Programs and initiatives
a. the interest in food access, quality and production issues amongst urban Canadians in their late teens and early twenties and in tertiary education is quite remarkable, where there is a growing explicit awareness of food sovereignty as a means of achieving the right to food (for example, http://www.mealexchange.com/). Canadian civil society takes food issues very seriously.
b. in addition to the National Farmer's Union (http://www.nfu.ca) and Slow Food Canada (http://www.slowfood.ca/) there are a number of civil society groups organized around food (for example, http://foodsecurecanada.org/; a comprehensive list can be found at http://www.foodstudies.ca/organizations.html)
c. the Toronto Food Policy Council is widely recognized as a model for community mobilization around improved access to and control over the local food system (http://www.toronto.ca/health/tfpc/).

I am looking forward to the Special Rapporteur's mission with great interest.

How imaginary demand has made food prices more volatile

An excellent article on food price volatility by one of my former students.

How imaginary demand has made food prices more volatile

It is only a coincidence that I am interviewed!

I'm mad

Take the 10 seconds needed to sign this petition. One billion hungry in the world is unacceptable.

1billionhungry.org

Beverly Bell in Haiti

This blog from the ground in Haiti is excellent, as well as very positive about the power of Haitians to build a better future for themselves.

Beverly Bell in Haiti — YES! Magazine

Thanks to Liz, a former student, for pointing this out to me.