Oakland, CA USA November 16,2006
Marilyn Borchardt, development director

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has recently declared that the word “Hunger” will no longer be used to describe what happens when people don’t have enough food to eat.

The Institute for Food and Development Policy, also known as Food First, today released a report that is highly critical of the Rockefeller and Bill & Melinda Gates Foundations' $150 million "Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa" (AGRA). The Food First Policy Brief is titled:

Ten Reasons Why the Rockefeller and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundations' Alliance for Another Green Revolution Will Not Solve the Problems of Poverty and Hunger in Sub-Saharan Africa by Eric Holt-Gimenez, Ph.D., Miguel A. Altieri , Ph.D., and Peter Rosset, Ph.D.

New Report from Food First Traces Links Between Hunger, Global Trade, and Climate Change

North Korea's ongoing famine, which began in the mid-1990s, seems to prove that its government cares little about its people and more about possessing nuclear weapons. But for several decades, North Korea's agricultural policy of self sufficiency fed all North Koreans with little help from beyond its borders.

A new report published by Food First, "Famine and the Future of Food Security in North Korea," examines how North Korea pursued economic and agricultural self-sufficiency in response to its history of occupation and isolation.

Food First has released the second edition of Miguel Altieri's book Genetic Engineering in Agriculture which analyzes the claims and risks of genetically modified crops while proposing affordable and attainable alternatives that are in use throughout the world today.

The report, "The Organic Alternative: Slovenia, the European Union, and the Debate over Sustainable Agriculture," states that support for organic and sustainable agriculture is sweeping the European countryside, sparking a plethora of policies to meet and promote these trends--trends that could potentially nudge aside industrial agriculture. Slovenia, one of the newest EU member countries, is among the most aggressive pursuing these policies.

Market forces and trade, immigration and labor policies create conditions ripe for exploiting and enslaving farmworkers, according to a new report by Food First/Institute for Food and Development Policy.

The Indian government and the World Bank have lauded India's economic performance. But a new report from Food First/Institute for Food and Development Policy shows that this performance has touched only a sliver of the population and bypassed the majority of farmers, India's economic backbone.

The Institute for Food and Development Policy, also known as Food First, salutes the citizens of Mendocino County for passing Measure H banning the growing of genetically modified crops in the county, sending a clear message to the biotech industry that their goods are unwanted by American growers and consumers.

The Institute for Food and Development Policy, also known as Food First, salutes the citizens of Mendocino County for passing Measure H banning the growing of genetically modified crops in the county, sending a clear message to the biotech industry that their goods are unwanted by American growers and consumers.