The Polish farmers' protest against a government sell-off of farmland to multinational corporations is now in its 5th week in Zachodniopomorskie region of Poland and is spreading to other Provinces.
European Union dairy farmers protest milk price controls by spraying police with high-pressure hoses filled with milk. It certainly wasn't the first time that food has been both subject and symbol of unrest. But this one stands out because of the dramatic images.
Mike Guebert, a local small scale integrated livestock farmer who sells raw milk from his farm direct to the public shares his perspective on the safety and benefits of raw unpasteurized milk.
Monsanto, Philip Morris and other U.S. tobacco giants knowingly poisoned Argentinean tobacco farmers with pesticides, causing "devastating birth defects" in their children.
Corporate control of our food system is deeply embedded. Industrial food companies have been advertising to us since we were young. Sugar and other taste stimulants are very addictive. Taking back the food system is a cooperative effort.
Underground Urban Market Clubs of the world--a review and comparison of how they are organized and run. Great for building community-start one in your own town.
A look at food sovereignty and how small scale farming is so important for our world. Industrial agriculture is destroying our world.
Please write to your MP about Bill C-474. This bill is needed to protect all farmers from the market impacts of genetically engineered crops.
This article was recently pointed out to me by a friend who knows of my distaste for the Gates Foundation and all of the “good work” they are doing. I once looked through a long list of all the projects they were funding in ‘developing’ countries and was quite disturbed. One example of something they funded which I think is entirely redundant was mosquito nets drenched in mosquito repellent. I feel very concerned for the kids sleeping in these pesticide tents every night. In some ways giving out these ‘gifts’ of mosquito nets is rather like the gift of small-pox blankets given to the native Americans so many years ago. This article shows other ways in which the Gates Foundation is working with some very money hungry corporations.
You can read the full article here: Market-led Development Aid for Africa. Good For Business, Bad for Farmers. by Richard Jonasse. July 13, 2010.
The mixture of quasi-religious faith in free markets, and their conflation with democracy, perfectly encapsulates current US (World Bank, IMF, USAID …) development philosophy. USAID no longer provides aid through local governments as it did during the Cold War era. In the post-1980 neoliberal era, its primary activity has been farming out aid via contracts to private corporations.
Who can resist an open air market? In Shan State they have a very clever system by having their farmers market run on a five day cycle. So, for example, around the mystical Inle Lake, the market will be one day in Nyaung Shwe, the next at Mein Tauk, the next at the other corner of the lake as a floating market, etc. This way local farmers can sell their product without having to go too far afield, and tourist just love going to the different locations each day. It is a system worth considering bringing back to other areas of the world. The Burmese have been forced to maintain their traditional methods of farming and subsistence living, which may in the long run be a blessing in disguise for them and the rest of the world. If any of us want to know how to live really sustainably, I recommend following in the footsteps of E.F. Schumacher (author of Small Is Beautiful: Economics as if People Mattered
) by going to Burma and learning from them.
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