Congress Discusses Ways to "Feed the Future"
By Scott Lensing
Yesterday, the House Committee on Foreign Affairs heard from a panel of seven experts on the State Department’s new program to fight global hunger, the “Feed the Future” initiative. Originally released in May of this year, the Feed the Future Guide presents plans for bringing greater food security to countries in the Global South, with $3.5 billion dollars in funding over the next three years. Despite a number of laudable goals, several congressional representatives and panelists voiced concerns about misguided focus.
The Fight Over Food Deserts – Corporate America smacks its way down
Originally published on the Huffington Post
by Eric Holt-Gimenez, Annie Shattuck and Zoe Brent
Un conte de trois villes: La lutte mondiale pour éradiquer la faim
Par Eric Holt-Giménez
Directeur exécutif, l'Institut pour l'Alimentation et la Politique de Développement (Food First), version anglaise publié par Huffington Post, 23 mai, 2010:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/eric-holt-gimenez/a-tale-of-threecitiesthe...
Market-led Development Aid for Africa: Good for business, bad for farmers
Photo by vredeseilanden, Creative Commons
"Don't get caught in a bad restaurant!" Food workers get creative on exploitative restaurant chain
Last week in Dearborn, Michigan the Restaurant Opportunities Center told Andiamo's Restaurant in no uncertain terms what they thought of the company. Andiamo's is being sued by its staff for over $125,000 in unpaid (stolen) wages. Thanks to ROC and the Food Chain Workers Alliance for the great video!
Going for a raw (milk) nation
By Cait Van Damm
I’ll admit, I miss breaking the law. Not so long ago at a farm in New York’s Hudson Valley that will go unnamed, I used to fill up half-gallon mason jars of raw milk for a whopping $1.50. The milk was incredible; hours from the source, it was smooth, ultra-creamy, and everything a dairy connoisseur hopes and dreams about. Ah, memories.
Dairy Farmers Face Dean Foods in Anti-trust "Listening Sessions"
Farmers were out in force in Madison, Wisconsin last week demanding an end to anti-competitive practices in the dairy industry. The Department of Justice held it's third "listening session" on corporate concentration in agriculture, this time focusing on the beleaguered dairy industry.
Macro Problems, Micro Distractions? Grameen America expands to D.C., Bay Area
By Jennifer Kampe and Eric Holt-Gimenez
A Pandora's Box Moment? Synthetic Biology Breakthrough Tied to Search for Cheap Biofuels
By Annie Shattuck and Scott Lensing
The J. Craig Venter Institute and Synthetic Genomics Inc. announced the successful construction of the first self-replicating synthetic organism on May 21, 2010. What might this mean?
Africans Face Competing Visions of Agricultural Development at a Critical Juncture
By Richard Jonasse, Food First
HAITIAN FARMERS COMMIT TO BURNING MONSANTO HYBRID SEEDS
By Beverly Bell of Other Worlds are Possible
May 17, 2010
“A new earthquake” is what peasant farmer leader Chavannes Jean-Baptiste of the Peasant Movement of Papay (MPP) called the news that Monsanto will be donating 60,000 seed sacks (475 tons) of hybrid corn seeds and vegetable seeds, some of them treated with highly toxic pesticides. The MPP has committed to burning Monsanto’s seeds, and has called for a march to protest the corporation’s presence in Haiti on June 4, for World Environment Day.
Public Aid, Philanthropy, and the Privatization of African Agricultural Development
By Richard Jonasse and Tanya Kerssen
People's Climate Summit Begins in Cochabamba, Bolivia: A roundup on good coverage
Social movements, farmers organizations, indigenous people, civil society and government representatives from over 70 countries gathered today for the the World People's Summit on Climate Change in Cochabamba, Bolivia.