The U.N. General Assembly passed a resolution aiming to ignite international efforts to support family farmers and their roles in developing hunger and poverty solutions.
Policy and Organizing
To Save Family Farms, We Must Oppose Monsanto-Bayer Merger
The pending Monstanto-Bayer merger will increasingly limit farmers choices while increasing the price of required agricultural inputs. Congressional candidate Austin Frerick is out to right this wrong, restore competition within the market, and save family farms.
2017 Round of Global Climate Change Talks Sees First-Ever Progress on Agriculture
For the first time in the 25-year history of international climate negotiations, the 197 member countries of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) have reached an agreement on agriculture. The milestone came near the close of the 23rd Conference of Parties (COP23) of the UNFCCC and formally establishes a process called the Koronivia Joint Work on Agriculture.
Building a Sustainable Food Future in Santee Sioux Nation
New research by the Center for Rural Affairs explores how the Santee Sioux people wish to rebuild a sovereign food system and build a healthier and more resilient Nation.
Keep Your Eyes on the Price: WTO Remains Blind to Agricultural Dumping
Farm leaders from around the world were greatly disappointed in the outcome, or lack thereof, at the biennial World Trade Organization (WTO) Ministerial Conference in Buenos Aires. If the WTO is to fulfill its mandate to support development and reduce unfair trade, it has to keep its eyes on the prize of fair prices and address illegal dumping.
U.S. Law Schools Launch Healthy Food Policy Project to Support Local Policies/Legislation
A team of leading food lawyers and legal scholars in the United States (U.S.) is launching the Healthy Food Policy Project (HFPP), a collaborative initiative working to identify and elevate effective local food laws as examples for advocates in communities across the country. The website features a searchable database of local laws that seek to promote access to healthy food while contributing to strong local economies, an improved environment, and health equity.
India’s Public Stockholding: “Much more than a welfare program”
India’s food security and stockholding program uses precisely the same policies that the U.S. used in its early farm policy coming out of the Great Depression. Exactly the same: price supports, food reserves, administered markets, subsidies. The U.S. government used them because they work. India and other countries should be allowed to use them, too. Because they work.
WTO and Food Security: Biting the Hand that Feeds the Poor
India’s National Food Security Act (NFSA), is one of the most ambitious food security initiatives in the world, planning to buy food grains from small-scale farmers to distribute to some 840 million poor Indians, two-thirds of the country’s people.
France Takes Top Spot in 2017 Food Sustainability Index
The Food Sustainability Index, developed by the Economist Intelligence Unit and the Barilla Center for Food & Nutrition Foundation, ranks 34 countries according to their food system sustainability.
“The time is now for our country to help young farmers”
The number of American farmers is decreasing and their average age is increasing. This report examines obstacles young farmers face and suggests policies to ensure the future of American agriculture.
New Research Highlights the Benefits of Local Food Markets
New research by Michigan State University and Lilongwe University, Malawi, shows that Malawi’s regional food sector is critical to rural and urban food security and is an important source of income for men and women along the food supply chain.
Food Policy Report Card for U.S. Congress Shows Lack of Action
On November 1, 2017, Food Policy Action (FPA) released its annual National Food Policy Scorecard to help the public track actions taken by lawmakers in the United States (U.S.) Congress. Scores were down this year because neither the House nor the Senate spent much time on food issues this year.
New Toolkit to Empower Local Food Advocates
The Harvard Law School Food Law and Policy Clinic has partnered with the Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future to update Good Laws, Good Food: Putting Local Food Policy to Work for Our Communities, a toolkit that educates, inspires, and empowers local food advocates.
Culture of Harassment Rife in Restaurant Industry
New Orleans restaurateur and celebrity chef John Besh has resigned from the Besh Restaurant Group after allegations of sexual harassment across several of his restaurants.
Plant-Based Food Advocates Fight DAIRY PRIDE Act
This bill claims that plant-based products labeled as milk are misleading to consumers and plant-based milk, cheese, and yogurt imitations do not provide the same nutrition content as genuine dairy products.
Campbell: “Goal of bringing more plant-based foods to consumers”
“We are committed to providing our consumers with food choices that meet their nutrition, well-being, and lifestyle needs,” says Ed Carolan, President of Campbell Fresh.
Zambian Farmers Outline “Potential agriculture holds to reduce poverty and hunger”
Zambian farmers outline “potential agriculture holds to reduce poverty and hunger, contribute to vibrant, self-sustaining communities and dramatically increase the food needed to feeding a growing population.”
Escaping the Consumer Trap
It’s become normal to talk about people as consumers in relation to food. But a new report from UK-based organizations the New Citizenship Project and the Food Ethics Council argues this language and its associated ideas create a fundamental barrier to the change we need.
New Investigative Series: Indonesia For Sale
Indonesia for Sale, an in-depth series on politicians, palm oil plantation companies, and deforestation in Indonesia, highlights the country’s current conflict over land.
FAO Highlights Rural-Urban Connections to Reduce Hunger
The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization have just released the 2017 State of Food and Agriculture report. Connecting rural areas with surrounding cities and towns will create more sustainable food systems and help alleviate rural poverty, the report argues.
