Food First's blog

Par Rick Jonasse et Tanya Kerssen

Tanya Kerssen and Rick Jonasse (Cliquez ici pour lire en français)  

Hard lobbying by U.S. corn ethanol and soy biodiesel corporations paid off earlier this month when the Obama administration announced its plan to boost the country's production and consumption of biofuels. The strategy offers little in the way of "change". Rather, it recommits the country to the goal mandated by Congress in 2007 to implement a 36 billion gallon renewable fuel mandate by 2022-more than three times what the U.S. currently produces. 

by Krista Beckley

While farmers in India have been growing eggplant for thousands of years, suddenly their staple isn’t quite sufficient to satiate Monsanto. Considering that if approved Bt bringal (a variety of eggplant) will be the first GM vegetable ever grown for large-scale human consumption in the world, Monsanto has a lot to loose if enough people say no.

By Eric Holt-Gimenez
Originally published on the Huffington Post

The recent announcement by the Obama Administration of renewed support to the bloated biofuels industry has the Brazilians jumping for joy.

The Brazilians? Wait a minute... Yep, here are the latest headlines from UNICA, the Brazilian Sugarcane Industry Association:

Brazilian Sugarcane Industry Welcomes U.S. EPA's Renewable Fuels Rules

By Zoe Brent

With the sky falling and the ocean rising along central California's
beautifully rugged coastline, the Asilomar Conference Grounds hosted
farmers, retailers, processors, consumers, advocates and sustainable
agriculture enthusiasts this past weekend. The event was sold out and
despite flooded roads and fallen trees, more than 1600 attendees
flocked to the Ecological Farming Association's annual conference in
Pacific Grove, Ca.

By Eric Holt-Gimenez
First published on the Huffington Post

In overthrowing me, you have cut down in Saint-Domingue only the tree of liberty. It will spring up again by the roots for they are numerous and deep.
-Toussaint L'Ouverture

By Krista Beckley

There have been several reports recently about genetic material from GMO corn making its way into soil, animals and insects. (The study these reports refer to appeared in the Journal of Chemical Ecology in July - Hart et. al 2009) The concept of how these genes enter into other organisms and food systems is often convoluted, and worth laying out again for readers who may have questions.

View this video clip to learn more about Monsanto's patenting of life.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-ouf_gmA5o&feature=related

As we learned in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, not all aid is equal. Haiti’s January 12th earthquake has left thousands dead. Many more need urgent medical attention.

By Eric Holt-Gimenez
Originally published on the Huffington Post

Pambazuka News just released a great audio piece with interviews from some of the most inspiring African climate justice advocates present in Copenhagen.

By Eric Holt-Gimenez and Zoe Brent
Originally published on the Huffington Post

FRESNO, CALIFORNIA: Food aid is rolling in to the breadbasket of California. In Fresno County, the state’s most productive agricultural area, a hunger crisis has been unfolding for the better part of a year. Some 90,000 people a week lined up at local food banks this holiday season, many of them farm workers. Owing to what he declared a “drought disaster” California Governor Schwarzenegger delivered $4 million in food aid to Fresno last June. This winter he pledged to extend the aid indefinitely.

Climate Justice Now, a coalition of social movements and civil society groups from around the world recently released this statement on the global movement emerging from the official disaster in Copenhagen:

Call for “system change not climate change” unites global movement

Corrupt Copenhagen ‘accord’ exposes gulf between peoples demands and elite interests

In Copenhagen tonight, a leaked UN document on a new proposal from developed countries points to what civil society is calling "The Great Betrayal."