Local Food

Haitians Deserve Nutritious Rice

Salena Tramel — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 22:05:10 +0000

Last August, just before Hurricane Fay smashed into Haiti, I spent the day with MOREPLA (Mouvman Revandikatif Peyizan Latibonit-Peasant Movement for Justice in the Artibonite), a local movement of rice producers that works with the coalition of Grassroots International's partner PAPDA (The Haitian Platform to Advocate Alternative Development). Leaders from MOREPLA explained to me that rice producers in the Artibonite potentially could have the capacity to provide livelihoods for more than 200,000 people in a department (state) that suffers a 78% unemployment rate.

Haiti: Nutritional value of World Food Program rice in question

Mon, 15 Dec 2008 22:01:53 +0000

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Haiti Support Group challenges UN World Food Program

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Grassroots International Joins with U.S. Allies to Tell the Candidates: "Reform food policy and end the food crisis"

Fri, 31 Oct 2008 15:34:57 +0000

Global food prices have almost doubled in recent years, in large part due to U.S. policies, and now nearly 1 billion people worldwide - including 50 million here in the U.S. - are facing hunger. Keep reading to find out how you can take action for change.

The food crisis is not a crisis in the availability of food. In fact, there is more than enough food to feed everyone in the world. Over the last 20 years, world food production has risen steadily at over 2% a year, while the rate of global population growth has dropped to 1.14% a year.

Announcing: A New Popular Education Tool!

Carol Schachet — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 14:00:56 +0000

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Food for Thought and Action: A Food Sovereignty Curriculum now available for free download

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Local and Fair Trade at the Crossroads

Mon, 07 Jul 2008 18:46:14 +0000

Grassroots International ally Phyllis Robinson of Equal Exchange recently wrote about the potential wedge driven between advocates of local foods (often called "localvores" in the current vernacular) and those working for Fair Trade. As she points out, Fair Trade and Buy Local advocates share many important concerns about the ways we can take back our food system so that it works best for small farmers and consumers, both locally and throughout the world – developing systems that promote food sovereignty. For more information, read her article.

America’s Farm Bill

Daniel Moss — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 23:03:02 +0000

The tidal wave of American interest in local, sustainable agriculture, and the waves of protest around the world over staggering food prices, seem to have washed over the heads of most members of Congress without them even noticing. The 2008 Farm Bill proves it.

Food Price Crisis

Mon, 14 Apr 2008 22:27:48 +0000

In recent weeks, several UN agencies have issued warnings against impending food riots because of the acute hike in prices of rice, corn, wheat, and other staples. Morocco, Guinea, Egypt, Mexico, Haiti, Yemen, Mauritania, Senegal, Indonesia, and Uzbekistan have already been rocked by mass protests. The World Food Program (WFP), which feeds 73 million people in almost 80 countries, has called upon donor governments to close the $500 million funding gap by May 1, 2008 or it may not be able to make its food aid commitments. Worst affected by resulting hunger are the poor, surviving on less then $2 a day, in developing countries.

Why “Local” and “Fair Trade” are Two Sides of the Same Coin

Fri, 15 Feb 2008 16:48:28 +0000

How free trade destroys local economies, hurts small farmers and causes massive waves of migration

“There used to be one bus a day leaving this area (Esquintla, Chiapas) heading north. Now, four buses a day go to the border…. And each is packed with our young boys. Today, with the conditions the way they are, youth have become our biggest export.” Miguel Angel Barrios Bravo, president of a coffee co-operative affiliated with FIECH, the Indigenous Ecological Federation of Chiapas, one of Equal Exchange’s trading partners.

Why “Local” and “Fair Trade” are Two Sides of the Same Coin

Wed, 13 Feb 2008 18:50:16 +0000

Suddenly everyone’s talking about local: “Local is the new organic,” we’re told. Farmer’s markets are springing up in food co-operative and church parking lots and on Main Streets throughout the country. More people are joining CSA’s (community supported agriculture) and choosing locally grown products in their grocery stores. And as this trend continues, more and more consumers are starting to ask hard questions about where their food comes from and how it’s grown, who are the people growing it and under what conditions, and equally important of course, who’s making the decisions that control our food choices and who’s making the profits from those purchases?

Congress “Dumps On” Peru With New Fair Trade Agreement

Daniel Moss — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 05:45:42 +0000

The U.S. Senate ignored the wishes of 4 million Peruvian farmers and countless numbers of American family farmers, ranchers, and consumers earlier this month when it voted to create a new Peru Free Trade Agreement (Peru FTA). The agreement, modeled on failed free trade policies such as NAFTA and CAFTA, will allow American agribusinesses to dump tons of below-cost commodities such as corn and soybeans into the Peruvian economy, thereby creating unfair competition for Peruvian farmers. It will also allow Peru to flood the U.S. market with cheap fruits and vegetables at a time when American family farmers are trying to build sustainable food systems by offering affordable local produce to consumers.