Food Sovereignty: Land, Water & Seeds Presbyterian Hunger Program

1. Food Sovereignty: Land, Water & SeedsPresbyterian Hunger Program PEC: Ethical Earth Care! Andrew Kang Bartlett October 2013

2. Myriad Possible Entry Points • Why start from hunger? • Nearly a billion go hungry • Over a billion overeat • Global Food/Farm System largest impact • Greatest moral problem we face

3. Poverty & Hunger • Approximately 3 billion living on less than $2 per day • 1.3 billion of these live on $1 or less per day • Most impoverished people are farmers, fishers & others who rely on agriculture • Family farmers feed 70% of world

4. No food shortage Food production has kept up with population growth so far • The challenge will be to keep apace with population in the future • And by 2030, we may need about 50% more food production

5. Where do the crops go? LIVESTOCK & AGROFUELS More than 1/3rd of grain produced in the world goes to livestock US: 38% of corn crop used for ethanol (4.3 Billion bushels) Remainder for food to eat

6. Modern-day slavery & exploitation

7. Horrible conditions

8. Low pay, wage theft & dead end jobs

9. Corporate Control &Shaping of Policies

10. Industrial Agriculture’s Impact • Petroleum-intensive (1/3) • Corporate-shaped policies = overproduction & export/import • Environmental damage (largest) • Disease ($100-270 billion per year in U.S.) - Sahtouris

12. Eating is central • Eating is where we interface daily and directly with planetary/biological system (i.e. God’s creation) • Air, water & food critical to life • Air (grace), sunshine (grace), water (grace), food (grace, sweat and radah--skilled mastery )

13. What might God’s food system look like? Food for all ~ • Healthy and life-giving nutrition • Produced ecologically • Eaten in gratitude and with joy • Responsive in times of critical shortages and famines • Produced and shared in ways that ensure future generations can feed themselves

14. Food Security Food Security views hunger as a lack of food and advocates for more production, increased government aid, and encourages voluntary, charitable donation. Congregation and community-based feeding programs, food banks & large programmatic and sometimes education/advocacy non-profits

15. Food Security • Food security is about access to safe and healthy food, but doesn’t take into account the social & environmental impacts of how and by whom the food is produced, processed and marketed. • Food sovereignty is bringing about a new paradigm. . .

16. Systems Thinking We can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them. ~ Albert Einstein Must move from binary, linear thinking to systems thinking

18. Dominant Food System

19. Food Sovereignty Democratizing the food system People’s right to healthy and culturally appropriate food produced through ecologically sound and sustainable methods, and their right to define their own food and agriculture systems.

20. In Food Sovereignty… • Farmers receive a fair price, and farmworkers and food chain workers are paid and treated well • 1st priority is to produce, store and distribute for local consumption, not as commodity on the global market • Producers and communities maintain control over land, water, seeds and other resources

21. Food Sovereignty Food Sovereignty views hunger as a problem related to control of food systems. In Food Sovereignty, resources and policies focus on returning decision-making & control of food systems to people, communities, regions and nations. PHP & increasing #s of US groups; social movements, mostly agrarian, largely from the Global South & alliances (USFSA)

22. Problem Pam, a 13-year-old living on Market and 41st Barack, a 4-year-old in rural Cameroon _________, a concerned person of faith

24. Food Sovereignty • Farmers receive a fair price, and farmworkers and food chain workers are paid and treated well • Food is stored and distributed for local consumption and not traded as a commodity • Producers and communities maintain control over land, water, seeds and other resources

25. Problem Pam, a 13-year-old living on Market and 41st (or in a shrinking rural town 30 miles from a supermarket)

26. Environmental Sustainability • reduced transport cost • reduced cold storage • reduced packaging • sustainable urban design (heat island effect, storm water, resource conservation)

27. Stewardship of Land • family farmers retain farm and land • urban sprawl limited land remains in the hands of people • vacant plots used for food and beauty

28. Community & Quality of Life • greater sense of place • different generations working together • bringing beauty to neighborhoods

29. Local Economic Activity • circulating local dollars (multiplier effect) • employment & job training • small farm businesses are relatively easy to start

30. Food Justice • right to fresh foods by all residents • elimination of food deserts • taking back control (democracy) • justice for farm workers and other workers in the food system

31. Problem Barack, a 4-year-old in rural Cameroon

32. The Battle for the Future of Agriculture Africa is the battleground Green Revolution in Africa versus Agroecological Food Production

33. Food security or food sovereignty?

34. Enough Food • No lack of food on our planet, and farmers can grow even more if they get support • But the question is how to ensure a fair distribution of the food? Also, who will produce the food that the world needs?

35. CAMEROON • Recurrent food crises in northern Cameroon • Food aid and speculation take place, increasing vulnerability for thousands of families

36. Cameroon • RELUFA worked with groups affected by hunger and created granaries to store food in villages • People now have food with dignity not only in times of scarcity, but anytime during the year

37. Impact of food sovereignty in Cameroon • System helps break speculation; food (and seed) is now available in the communities all though the year • Gave voice to local groups

38. Impact of food sovereignty in Cameroon • The program allowed parents to focus not only on food, but on education for their children and other family needs

39. Impact of Food Sovereignty program in Cameroon Communities are now mobilizing to move to the next step and have their voices heard in agricultural policy choices

40. The Battle for the Future of Agriculture Green Revolution in Africa versus Agroecological Food Production

41. New “Green” Revolution for Africa • Promoting high-tech, industrial agriculture model: • Biotechnology (GMOs), hybrid seeds requiring irrigation, fertilizer, pesticides • Productivity seriously drops when complete (expensive) package not available

42. Agroecological Food Production • Sustainable and organic approaches • Conservation farming • Sustainable fishing • Support needed to scale up

43. Meta-study compared data from nearly 100 studies of conventional and sustainable/organic agriculture, concluded: • worldwide switch to organics could increase global food production by as much as 50% -- enough to feed a population of 9 billion people without any additionalland

44. Confirms earlier research: 2003 peer-reviewed analysis of 208 projects (with almost 9 million farmers) in over 50 developing countries found a93% increase in food production when farmers switched to sustainable methods.

45. Problem ________, a concerned person of faith

46. Apply a systems approach Pam, a 13-year-old living on Market and 41st Barack, a 4-year-old in rural Cameroon • Social theater, political, community assets, relationships, ownership, power dynamics, money, biological, animals, micro-organisms, consciousness…

47. Problem Pam, a 13-year-old living on Market and 41st Barack, a 4-year-old in rural Cameroon What perspectives aren’t included in addressing problems that systems thinking could contribute? Come up with at least one new approach…

48. Build Alternatives and Resist:Create, play, build, grow locally & JOIN in solidarity with people around the U.S. + world US Food Sovereignty Alliance * www.usfoodsovereigntyalliance.org

49. Inner work to align with God/the Source (yoga, silence, running…) • Find kindred spirits, dedicate time to develop relationships (eat together, worship, laugh a lot, show up for each other…) • Community work to strengthen web of connections, make interdependence obvious (timebank, group work…) • Find your gifts & share them • Follow your bliss

50. Food Sovereignty Democratizing the food system People’s right to healthy and culturally appropriate food produced through ecologically sound and sustainable methods, and their right to define their own food and agriculture systems.