Food Sovereignty:
Land, Water & Seeds
Presbyterian Hunger Program
PEC: Ethical Earth Care!
Andrew Kang Bartlett
October 2013
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
Poverty & Hunger
• Approximately 3 billion
living on less than $2
per day
> $2 per
• 1.3 billion of these live
day
on $1 or less per day
More or • Most impoverished
way
people are farmers,
more
fishers & others who
rely on agriculture
• Family farmers feed
70% of world
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
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
Modern-day
slavery & exploitation
Horrible conditions
Low pay, wage theft
& dead end jobs
Corporate Control &
Shaping of Policies
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
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 )
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
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 nonprofits
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. . .
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
Dominant Food System
Corporate
Mandate
& Greed
Environmental
Degradation
Economic
Exploitation
Control of
Seeds,
Inputs &
Land
Consolidated
Power
Loss of
Family
Farms
Power to
Shape
Policy
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.
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
Food Sovereignty
Food Sovereignty views hunger as a
problem related to control of food
systems. In Food Sovereignty, resources
and policies focus on returning decisionmaking & 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)
Problem
Pam, a 13-year-old living on Market and 41st
Barack, a 4-year-old in rural Cameroon
_________, a concerned person of faith
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
Problem
Pam, a 13-year-old living on Market and 41st
(or in a shrinking rural town 30 miles from a
supermarket)
Environmental Sustainability
- reduced transport cost
- reduced cold storage
- reduced packaging
- sustainable urban design (heat island
effect, storm water, resource
conservation)
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
Community & Quality of
Life
- greater sense of place
- different generations working
together
- bringing beauty to
neighborhoods
Local Economic Activity
- circulating local dollars (multiplier
effect)
- employment & job training
- small farm businesses are relatively
easy to start
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
Problem
Barack, a 4-year-old in rural Cameroon
The Battle for the
Future of Agriculture
Africa is the battleground
versus
Agroecological Food Production
Food security or food
sovereignty?
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?
CAMEROON
• Recurrent food crises in northern
Cameroon
• Food aid and speculation take
place, increasing vulnerability for
thousands of families
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
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
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
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
The Battle for the
Future of Agriculture
versus
Agroecological Food Production
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
Agroecological Food Production
» Sustainable and organic
approaches
» Conservation farming
» Sustainable fishing
» Support needed to scale up
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 additional land
• Confirms earlier research: 2003
peer-reviewed analysis of 208 projects
(with almost 9 million farmers) in over
50 developing countries found a 93%
increase in food production when
farmers switched to sustainable
methods.
Problem
________, a concerned person of faith
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…
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…
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
• 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
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.
Food Sovereignty
Strategies
• 1) Connect with social movements
(e.g. Via Campesina) and organize
• 2) Build local food economies here
and everywhere
Food Sovereignty
Strategies
• 3) Create policy climate so
sustainable food systems can grow
(trade, debt, ag policy)
• 4) Resist forces that perpetuate
destructive, unjust industrial food
system (anti-trust/corporate control)
Food Sovereignty
Connections
• 1) WCC/PWE: Life-Giving Agriculture
• 2) Ecumenical Advocacy Alliance:
Food for Life Campaign
• 3) Covenanting for Justice: Economic
links around poverty & exploitation…
• 4) Strong Social Movements –
peasant, enviro, health, food systems
Food Sovereignty
Connections
• 5) Climate Change/Environmental
Impact: Food is a top priority
• 6) Food Sovereignty is at the nexus of
hunger, land/water stewardship,
environment, local control, and justice
• 7) Central to Christian mission: If you
care about people, food and hunger is
central to one’s witness
From Understanding to
Caring
- God’s creation as sacred
- regaining agrarian values and
behaviors
2013 PHP VISTAs
• Gina (national focus), Todd,
Amber & Emily (Louisville)
• Elise, Ilana & Whitney in
Indianapolis
• Casey in Cincinnati