People Putting Food First #109

1. Join together with organizations and individuals calling for a U.S. moratorium on biofuels
2. Plant a Row for the Hungry—Providing local food to food banks
3. Fuel at the Farm Gate – New tools for local fuel production
New at www.foodfirst.org
Thousands of People Protest NAFTA and defend Food Sovereignty in Mexico

1. Join together with organizations and individuals calling for a U.S. moratorium on biofuels

On January 29th, Food First, in collaboration with Rainforest Action Network, Grassroots International and Student Trade Justice Campaign held a press conference in to officially launch the Call for a U.S. Moratorium on all incentives and renewable fuels targets for agrofuels. Also supporting the moratorium was Rafael Alegría, former president of La Via Campesina, the largest family farmers' organization in the world.

The event was held outside of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's (D-Calif.) San Francisco office, and signaled the first formal opposition to the federal government's push for agrofuels as mandated in the Renewable Fuels Standards in the 2007 U.S. Energy Independence and Security Act. The act, which was signed into law by President George W. Bush in December 2007, mandates the annual use of 36 billion gallons of agrofuels by 2020—a fivefold increase.

The Call for the Moratorium, which has already been signed by more than 60 organizations and social movements from around the world, comes at a time when the media is full of stories about the dangers agrofuels pose to global food supplies, forests and rural livelihoods. Yet, government and industry continue to espouse the benefits of agrofuels, and promote their use.

According to Eric Holt-Giménez, Executive Director of Food First, "The side effects of biofuels-the rise in food costs, shrinking water tables, deforestation and displacement of rural people-are rarely discussed. The question is not whether ethanol and biodiesel have a place in our future, but whether or not we allow a handful of global corporations to transform our food and fuel systems, destroy the planet's biodiversity and impoverish the countryside."

The U.S. Call for a Moratorium comes on the heels of a similar call for an agrofuels moratorium in Europe, which has forced European Commission officials to acknowledge the dangers of agrofuels expansion, leading to a re-evaluation of Europe’s own agrofuels mandates. Even the government of the Philippines is re-evaluating its proposed expansion of agrofuels production. These encouraging developments are no doubt results of the mobilization of civil society groups and moratorium calls, worldwide. It is critically important to harness this same momentum for the United States Moratorium. To view and sign the U.S. Call for a Moratorium, click on http://ga3.org/campaign/agrofuelsmoratorium.

2. Plant a Row for the Hungry—Providing local food to food banks

The local food movement had done a great job of making the case for local control over food resources. Whether you’re concerned about taste, carbon emissions, corporate control of our food supply, health, or safety, it’s easy to get behind local food. But one thing people don’t always consider is that food banks are even more dependent on the broken system than the rest of the population. Relying heavily as they do on inventory overages from large food producers, food banks are burdened by improved inventory controls and changes in corporate and government policy. And their clients have to contend with the poor nutritional profile of much of the “food” from packaged food processors. It is difficult for many food banks to get fresh produce and, often when they do, it is of questionable quality, having been unsellable in the first place and usually shipped from far away.

Plant a Row for the Hungry http://www.gardenwriters.org/Par/index.html is a program that since 1995 has provided more than 10 million pounds of homegrown, fresh, local produce to communities all over the US and in Canada. The concept is simple: Gardening communities get together and organize their fellow gardeners to plant just one extra row in their gardens. If you’re already gardening, it’s easy to maintain one extra row. Each community garden group partners up with a local food bank through which they distribute the food. Gardeners get to do something relatively easy that makes a big difference and food bank clients get more high quality, nutritious, fresh, locally grown, and tasty foods in their diets.

Plant a Row for the Hungry was started by the Garden Writers of America. The group publicizes the program in the course of their work and provides support and advice for any community wanting to start up a Plant a Row for the Hungry campaign. Here are step-by-step instructions that you can use to start a campaign in your area. http://www.gardenwriters.org/Par/Campaign.html

3. Fuel at the Farm Gate – New tools for local fuel production

Biofuel production, now being capitalized on by big agribusiness, began with do-it-yourselfers like Mike Pelly. Pelly, however, has a much different view of biodiesel than his corporate competitors in the agro-fuels craze. Pelly is an inventor and the owner of Olympia Green Fuels. His company has just begun marketing small scale biodiesel processors for community biodiesel operations and farmer co-ops. His refrigerator sized processors could allow small farmer co-operatives to produce and control their own fuel supply, helping farmers “cut out Cargill and ADM.” So far Olympia Green Fuels is supplying a company in Portland with relatively inexpensive processors to turn locally salvaged used vegetable oil into around 1 million gallons of biodiesel per year for consumption on the local market. Pelly is hoping to form partnerships with makers of oil pressing equipment, so vegetable oil can be produced and refined into biodiesel from within the farm gate.

Olympia Green Fuels ultimately sees biodiesel as an opportunity to decentralize the fuel system, giving power to people and farmers over oil companies, and helping to keep money local. “What we are doing here is taking their power away. Here is one fuel the oil companies don't control,” he declares. While that isn't likely to be true for long, technology like Pelly's processors is one step towards helping farmers and local economies capture profits from the agro-fuels boom.

------------------------------------
This edition of People Putting Food First! e-newsletter was written by Food First consultant, Isabella Kenfield, intern, Annie Shattuck, and volunteer, Vanessa Barrington. If you have stories, questions or feedback, please contact: info at foodfirst.org. To subscribe to this People Putting Food First e-newsletter go to www.foodfirst.org or simply hit reply and type the word subscribe in the subject line. Please consider a tax-deductible donation to Food First. Or join Food First's monthly sustainer program.