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Food Sovereignty

18th April 2011, 03:48 pm by Stan

De’s post on the new peasant revolt got me thinking. Let’s talk about this. In some depth.

Raj Patel on Food Sovereignty

The latest enclosure scheme:

On 18-20 April 2011, a gathering of some 200 farmland investors, government officials and international civil servants will meet at the World Bank headquarters in Washington DC to discuss how to operationalise “responsible” large-scale land acquisitions. Over in Rome, the Committee on World Food Security, housed at the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation, is about to start a process of consultation on principles to regulate such deals. Social movements and civil society organisations (CSOs), on the other hand, are mobilising to stop land grabs, and undo the ones already coming into play, as a matter of utmost urgency.Why do the World Bank, UN agencies and a number of highly concerned governments insist on trying to promote these land grab deals as “responsible agricultural investments”?

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Wikipedia on Food Sovereignty

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Seven principles fo food sovereignty<

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Here’s the story De sent:

We, the good people of Penobscot, Maine, passed a Local Food and Community Self-Governance Ordinance on March 7, 2011. Because farms and the Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association (MOFGA) have been trying to change state law with little success, we decided it was time to take back the control of food safety and on-farm processing into our own hands and take up a grassroots community movement. We are very proud of our town, the first to vote, and wanted to share with you all the good things happening here in Maine. We all had tears in our eyes when the organic farmers stood to speak. The applause was loud and clear when the ordinance was passed. Although we know it doesn’t really have legal standing — as state law trumps our community laws — we still feel this is a step in the right direction and the beginning of a change for the better. Here are some of the basic tenets of the ordinance:

* We claim our right to produce, process, sell, purchase and consume local foods, thus promoting self-reliance, the preservation of family farms, and local food traditions. As such, our right to a local food system requires us to assert our inherent right to self-government.
* We hold that federal and state regulations impede local food production and constitute a usurpation of our citizens’ right to foods of their choice.
* We claim Authority to enact this ordinance under, among other laws, part of Title 7 of the Maine Revised Statutes which states: “It is the policy of the State to encourage food self-sufficiency for the State.”
* As such, we claim that producers and processors of local foods are exempt from licensure and inspection when the producer is selling directly to a consumer intending to use the product for home consumption, or if the foods are sold at a community social event. Citizens have the right to produce, process, purchase and consume local foods of their choosing, and it shall be unlawful for any law or regulation adopted by the state or federal government to interfere with these rights.

We of Penobscot hope this ordinance can be an inspiration to everyone across the country working to maintain their rights to access local foods, and for everyone who works to make a living producing and processing foods to feed their community.

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The food movement has spoken.

Thirty years after a cross-country team of Canadian food advocates first convened in an effort to develop a national food strategy, a revamped and expanded version of that group will today issue a 27-page roadmap to food system change.

The People’s Food Policy Project, an umbrella group representing grassroots organizations and individuals from coast-to-coast, canvassed more than 3,500 Canadians over two years to come up with its findings. They are based on the concept of food sovereignty, the idea that people have a rightful say in determining how their food is produced and where it comes from. Not only does food sovereignty need to be restored in Canada, the project argues, policies at all levels of government need to be overhauled to enable it.

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A community teach-in on food sovereignty (1 hour)

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Food Sovereignty in Detroit

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Part 2

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Campesino a campesino

Category: General  |  Comment (RSS)

4 Comments

  1. Stan:

    Boulder County permaculture is the latest sustainable agricultural practice to be threatened by the short-sighted decision-making of the Boulder County’s Commissioners and Land Use Department. Zia Parker, who owns and operates Willow Way Wellness & Permaculture Farm in Niwot, CO, has been caught in a vise-grip between the county and a couple of her neighbors, who seem bent on preventing Ms. Parker from farming her land and teaching her eager students about the sustainable, low-carbon and low-cost benefits of the permaculture growing methodology.

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    Permaculturalists of the world, take note: if you’ve ever wished there was an easier way to connect, share ideas or find other permaculture projects all over the world — all in one place — then your prayers have been answered.

    Australia’s Permaculture Research Institute (PRI) just launched the beta version of its Worldwide Permaculture Network (WPN) website, which will allow people interested in permaculture to do just that and more. But it’s more than a social hub or forum: could this innovative project change the way permaculture is practiced?

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    What message kept 120 villagers rapt for three straight hours last Friday night? A message to transform our farm fields into forests, and in doing so, produce more local food, more sustainably.

    Mark Shepard, a Wisconsin-based permaculture teacher and farmer, enlightened the crowd at the Glen Helen Building with his radical food-growing ideas, like designing perennial polycultures of trees and shrubs instead of energy-intensive annual crops. To Shepard, the ideas are not radical, but practical and economic.

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    “I started as an environmental activist, working for peace and social change,” he said. “I found that creating social change by working with people and plants felt like the right thing to do. It was a way to connect with a greater diversity of people.”

    Sunday’s workshop focused on ways to get the most healthy food from a typical urban or suburban garden at the lowest cost. And that means looking at gardening as a bigger picture than just that patch of tomatoes each summer.

    Koester began with “Harvest the unharvested harvest.” In other words, learn to harvest and eat some of the delicious foods that grow naturally at your doorstep. “There is food all around us,” he said.

    Wild plants are often more nutritious than their cultivated cousins, he said; varieties that have been developed over time for gardening have been selected for such characteristics as size and flavor but not for their nutritional content.

    Next up, he said, think perennials.

    Traditional orchard trees such as apples and pears may not do as well here as berries and nuts do.

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    Chavez and Zami! on Laurel Street are two of the largest co-ops in Santa Cruz. They’re sister houses, meaning they make up an organization called the Santa Cruz Student Housing Cooperative (SCSHC), colliqually known as “Chazam.” They work together on projects, from building chicken coops to writing co-op cookbooks, and they also share a lease with a the North American Students of Cooperation (NASCO).

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    Last year, an open lot on the corner of 8th and Burlington became a place for the community to come grow together. The York Community Garden is now nearly ready to begin its second season and promises to be a place for even more growth this year.

    The land belongs to First United Methodist Church, and the garden is organized by a committee from the church. However, the garden is available to everyone. The entire community is invited to come and take part in the garden.

    Forty plots are available on a first come, first serve basis. To adopt a plot, visit the church office and pick up an application. The application simply spells out a few site maintenance requirements, recommendations and an agreement.

    Garden Manager Sharon Berry said the rules are not meant to be extensive or constricting, but are simply there to promote harmony.

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    With spring sprung—albeit a little later than anticipated—dreams of this year’s vegetables have been stalking the sleep of gardeners citywide. Kicking off the growing season for many was Gardening Matters 7th annual Community Gardens Resource Fair, held on April 2.

    The Saturday morning crowd at the Sabathani Community Center in South Minneapolis, who numbered in the hundreds, filled the gymnasium to enjoy free Peace coffee, interact with and enjoy the many information and trade booths, and hear from the day’s keynote speakers, members of Frogtown Gardens.

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    18 April 2011, 5:11 pm

  2. Stan:

    Eighty-three trees grow at Asbury United Methodist Church in central Phoenix.

    And as they begin bearing citrus, cherries, peaches, plums and apples, the trees will help fill empty bellies with nutritious foods.

    Asbury, which sits on irrigated land near 16th Avenue and Indian School Road, “decided to take water that would go to growing Bermuda grass and use it to help hungry families,” lead volunteer Kelli Donley says.

    The church, partnering with the Phoenix Permaculture Guild, set aside one section of its grounds for an orchard. Another area is filled with garden plots in which refugee families plant and harvest vegetables. Use of the land, water and a small tool shed is Asbury’s gift to the growers…

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    You know times are tough when the concept of a community garden is for much more than civic pride and cooperation; it’s a real food necessity. And you know times are good when the community comes together to make it happen.

    Prescott Community Gardens, a local group charged with at last making an elusive community garden a reality, is making a strong case at exactly the right time. The group pitched the Prescott City Council this past week for a lease for a 1/3 acre parcel of vacant land in Granite Creek Park, near the Greenways Trail, the Arizona Public Service yard and substation and the Sam Hill Warehouse. The parcel would offer enough space for about 70 individual gardening plots of about 10 feet by 10 feet.

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    A movement is growing nationwide. Where does our food come from? What are the healthiest options for ourselves and the environment? Many are returning to the basics of backyard gardening. Keeping with this trend the Houston Community Garden is now taking applications from those wanting to reserve a space in the garden. Come join us. No experience necessary. People of all gardening abilities are invited to learn and share knowledge.

    A garden is always far more than just vegetables and flowers growing in it. The most important ingredients in any garden are the people that care for and tend to the plants; and the community that views and uses it as a place of gathering, meeting, sharing, learning, and connection.

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    Vegetarians and locavores — people who eat only locally-produced food — now have a new argument to support their lifestyle. The Translational Genomics Research Institute recently found that about half of the beef, pork and poultry found in grocery stores is contaminated with an antibiotic-resistant form of bacteria.

    Staphylococcus aureus is associated with a compendium of human illnesses, and the majority of the strains that the researchers found in the meat appeared to be resistant to at least three varieties of antibiotics.

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    So far, three Maine towns–Blue Hill, Sedgwick and Penobscot–have passed versions of the Local Food and Self-Governance Ordinance. It basically says small farmers and other food producers in these communities can bypass state and federal food safety regulations and sell their products directly to consumers.

    “Yes, they have valid points–absolutely,” says John Bannister, “And I think that’s one of the reasons that this thing passed with almost near-unanimous support.”

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    19 April 2011, 5:12 pm

  3. DeAnander:

    Why White Rice?

    An excellent article which ties together the threads of colonialism, food sovereignty, status and image in food choices, nutrition, etc.

    19 April 2011, 10:09 pm

  4. DeAnander:

    “The fact that Americans could choose to live on a farm also gave them significant bargaining power with employers. As a result wages in the New World were much higher than in the Old World.” footnote

    Now only about 2 percent of Americans live on farms, and even those are mostly indentured franchise operators chained to Big Ag’s patented seeds and pesticide escalator.

    The fact that most people can no longer choose to live on a farm is not unrelated to the assault on labour rights. We lost our bargaining power when we lost access to the means of producing our own food. The corporadoes control the food supply, therefore they control us.

    Which makes the emerging local food economy even more subversive than we think it is :-)

    20 April 2011, 2:29 pm

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