While 1m new jobs may have been created since the North American Free Trade Agreement, real wages in Mexico are lower, poverty deeper, inequality worse, and the agricultural sector decimated by imports of subsidised US corn.

Sir, Naotaka Matsukata's loyalty to his former employers at the office of the US trade representative seems blind ("America must learn to love free trade pacts", January 27). Contrary to his claims, the Central American Free Trade Agreement makes no step towards abolishing US agricultural subsidies - these were explicitly ruled out of the negotiations by the USTR.

Herbicides damage the same soil biota we are to preserve, and weaken even transgenic Roundup Ready crops, making them more susceptible to insects and diseases; low-lying, nitrogen-fixing non-GE cover crops—called green manures—and mulches do a much better all-around no-till job, without chemicals or genetically modified organisms.

"Will Frankenfood Save the Planet?" is a mixture of half-truths, distortions, and outright misinformation.
The author extols no-till agriculture as preserving soil biota and hence soil fertility (mostly true), but makes the patently absurd claim that no-till must depend on herbicide use (false) and that herbicide use also requires genetically engineered (GE) herbicide-tolerant crops (also false). Herbicides damage the same soil biota we are to preserve, and weaken even transgenic Roundup Ready crops, making them more susceptible to insects and diseases; low-lying, nitrogen-fixing non-GE cover crops -- called green manures -- and mulches do a much better all-around no-till job, without chemicals or genetically modified organisms.

During this season of goodwill, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, or FAO, reminds us that not everyone will be eating well over the holidays. Its report on world hunger provides some dyspeptic reading.

During this season of goodwill, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, or FAO, reminds us that not everyone will be eating well over the holidays. Its report on world hunger provides some dyspeptic reading.

Sir, Gerard Baker's suggestion ("'Tis the season to loathe the president", December 4), that the widespread US hatred of George W. Bush is a mirror image of the vitriol extended to Bill Clinton by the Republicans, is rubbish. The reasons for Mr Bush's unpopularity are far more substantial than petty recrimination. Mr Bush was never elected. Some consider his power grab as nothing short of a coup d'etãt. Yet he behaves as if he was given a mandate. He marched this country to a war under false pretences, has shredded the Bill of Rights, despoiled environmental laws to suit his corporate benefactors, unilaterally trampled every international treaty, recklessly cut taxes - as your newspaper has noted - and presided over the largest budget deficit this country has ever seen.

Across Brazil's vast landscape, poor people, in groups of hundreds, are moving onto land that is claimed by others. The poor are demanding that land be distributed to them as part of an ongoing national agrarian program.

As we approach the holiday season, we look forward to sharing the good times with loved ones and friends. The family get-togethers, capped by generous portions of food and beverage, are the picture that many of us envision. Not so for about 450,000 of our neighbors in Orange County who, sometime each month, miss a meal. We need to think about them too.

La próxima cumbre del ALCA en Miami promete hacer mella de varios mitos: sacará a la luz la "verdadera diversidad de Miami"; mostrará un mapa político latinoamericano drásticamente distinto al de la última cumbre (ciudad de Quebec, abril de 2001); y hará patente el rechazo, afuera, en las calles, y también dentro, en las reuniones, a un tratado de libre comercio a escala continental.