Food First's blog

10 Myths from the Mainstream Media About U.S. Farm Policy

(click here to go to original source)

1) Myth: Rich farmers get all the money from the Farm
Bill.

Rome, Italy
June 3, 2008
Watch the video here: http://wsftv.net

Farmer and civil society leaders carrying out a peaceful action today in
Rome, Italy at the FAO Summit on the Food Crisis were forcefully removed
from the premises. At around 1:30pm farmers and representatives of civil
society organizations staged an action at the press room to deliver a
message that millions of additional people are joining the ranks of the
hungry as the corporations that control the global food system are making
record profits.

The 2008 U.S. Farm Bill is now official with the override of President Bush's veto.

Here's the official statement of the California Food and Justice Coalition, an organization that has worked tirelessly to improve quality and access to food for all Americans.

CFJC Statement on the Passing of the 2008 Farm Bill

By Natalie Danielle Camastra

by Miguel A. Altieri, University of California, Berkeley

Food prices are increasing by the day, countries are cutting trade in some basic grains, and food riots, marches, and protests are happening in countries around the world. Is agriculture at a crossroads? Are the world’s 1.5 billion hectares of farmlands sufficient to feed us, the animals we consume… and also produce agrofuels for our industrial way of life?

Recently adopted U.S. and the E.U. renewable energy standards are contributed to rapidly rising prices for both land and food. Concerns about

By Angie Rodriguez

On Thursday January 31st, thousands of people took the streets of Mexico City as part of the mobilization to demand the renegotiation of the agricultural chapter of the North American Free Trade Agreement. In what was called March in Defense of Food Sovereignty, several labor unions, university students, teachers, civic organizations and members of the opposition parties, joined dozens of farmers organizations such as the National Confederation Of Farmers (CNC) and the National Union of Agricultural Workers to protest the elimination of trade barriers on corn imports.

Dow Jones Newswire ran a story on November 13th on the effort by the MST and Via Campesina to expel the Syngenta corporation from Brazil after the murder of MST/Via Campesina member Valmir Mota de Oliveira at its experimental farm in western Paraná state on October 21st. Mota was shot with two bullets in the chest at point blank range by one of Syngenta's hired security guards.

Senator Lugar of Indiana and Senator Lautenberg of New Jersey introduced the FRESH ACT. The ACT would end the billions of dollars going to corn, cotton, wheat, rice, soy and other big crops and replace it with a crop insurance program available to all farmers--including the 90% of California farmers who get NO money from the current

This Alert courtesy of OXFAM America:

More than 800 million people around the world face food shortages or malnutrition. The USA is massive donor of food aid, contributing more than one-half of all food aid to meet urgent demands and respond to emergencies.

Dear Friends,

I have just received this press release from Brazil. Its roughly translated English reveals its urgency (I received several others regarding the same event in Spanish and Portuguese). Food First is looking in to the incident.

Eric

PRESS RELEASE

21/10/07

Attack of Syngenta’s armed militia results in deaths and woundeds
Brazil