Ag in Africa: Foreign 'Feudal Lords' and 'Diabolical' Seed Companies
Published November 18, 2009 @ 06:00AM PT
In looking at the world leaders gathered at this week's World Summit on Food Security in Rome, one does not except to see the eccentric Muammar Gaddafi as a beacon of logic in the storm. The unusual ruler, after all, spent part of his weekend in Italy's capital trying to convert 500 women he hired from an escort service to Islam — after, that is, he arrived in a white limo to speak to them, reports the UK's Mail Online.
He might not have persuaded very many of his female quarry to convert — "I thought we were going to a party - we didn't even get a glass of water or some salty snack," one woman reportedly said — but on the issue of global agriculture he was entirely convincing. He warned the other assembled leaders that foreign companies that are procuring massive tracts of farmland in Africa are becoming the continent's “new feudal lords," reports Reuters.
“In Africa, foreign investors buy farmland, transforming themselves into new feudal lords against whom we must fight,” Gaddafi said at the summit. Indeed many are calling the ominous development a massive "land grab," and the UK's Times Online went so far as to dub it "modern imperialism."
Kellogg Foundation Funds Local Food
Published November 17, 2009 @ 06:00AM PT
When you think of local food, Kellogg is not the first name that springs to mind. No, instead it's sugary cereals (okay, and some non-sugary ones), which are some of the most iconic products of our industrial, processed food system.
So it may come as somewhat of a surprise to hear that the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, a foundation started by cereal maven Will Keith Kellogg in 1930 and still funded by an endowment formed by his money in 1934, has announced $32.5 million in grants to support local food systems, according to the Washington Post.
This news points to the fact that the conversation on local and sustainable foods is starting to make headway. If a foundation that enjoys a close relationship with a mainstream industry player is putting its money on local food -- urban agriculture and local-produce-heavy school lunches no less -- then we know the ground is shifting.
World Summit on Food Security Set to Disappoint
Published November 16, 2009 @ 06:00AM PT
Today begins the World Summit on Food Security, organized by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and scheduled to run through Wednesday in Rome, Italy.
The FAO estimates that 1.02 billion people are undernourished in 2009, and with a world population set to reach 9 billion by 2050, the ranks of the hungry are sure to balloon unless aggressive action is taken on an international level.
Reuters reports, however, that the summit's progress will be no more than a token; there will be no deadlines or commitments to action despite the FAO's hope of gaining pledges of $44 billion a year from world leaders to help poor countries grow enough food. A draft of the declaration, Reuters says, includes a vague promise to fund more agricultural development with no specific commitments toward ending hunger.
Meals on Wheels: the Future of Sustainable, Ethical Meat
Published November 14, 2009 @ 06:00AM PT
Coming soon to a highway near you: the mobile slaughterhouse.
Here's the scoop: alert reader Kristen Ridley tells me that when she went to research humane slaughterhouse options, she couldn't find any. She said that there is "the occasional (very occasional) small processor out there that doesn't exploit their workers and abuse the animals," but they are few and far between. Most slaughterhouses are big, industrial, churn-em-out operations, and if you've seen "Food, Inc.," you'll know what those are like.
Welcome to the scene the Mobile Slaughter Unit! In 2002, farmers in San Juan County, Washington, set out to find a way for small farmers to work with the USDA regulations and still slaughter their own meat. The result: "the first mobile USDA Inspected field slaughter unit." The truck can slaughter 10 cows, 24 hogs or 40 sheep per day and contains a cooler that can hold up to 6,000 pounds of hanging carcasses to allow it to operate for a couple days continuously.
My $80 Thanksgiving Turkey
Published November 13, 2009 @ 11:08AM PT
The argument can be made that paying $80 for a turkey this Thanksgiving is just a typical example of elitism in the sustainable food movement. And that might be somewhat true.
However, I say that it is an example of paying for what's important to you, and for me, that's knowing not only who raised the bird on my table but how it was raised as well.
This Thanksgiving, I'll be serving a 10-12 pound heritage breed turkey from EcoFriendly Foods, a cooperative that sources sustainably produced meat from small farms throughout the Shenandoah Valley in Virginia; and here's why.
Somewhere around 99% of the turkeys consumed in America every year are the genetically engineered "Broadbreasted White" variety. These turkeys, the ones you find in the grocery store, are raised in (I omit "on" for a reason) factory farms, and have been manipulated to the point that they cannot even stand on their own most of time.
Two GMO Questions, One Big Muddle
Published November 13, 2009 @ 06:00AM PT
We've been discussing genetically modified foods like it's going out of style here on change.org's sustainable food blog.
There is, indeed, much to discuss; there are many threads to the conversation, which, when not teased apart, can lead to a muddled confusion about what we are all actually discussing.
Critics of GM foods tend to focus on two important concerns: the uncertain safety of the crops and the intellectual property (IP) rights of the companies creating them. So these are the big questions: (1) are GM foods safe? And (2) will companies maintain a financial stranglehold over the users and would-be researchers of GM seeds?
Harvest Boon: Satellites Help Farmers Boost Yield
Published November 12, 2009 @ 05:15PM PT
Farmers have long looked to the sky to predict the weather, the chance of a good harvest, and the likelihood of rain. Now, the skies are looking back, and talking back, with satellites helping farmers boost crop yields. Satellites are able to give quick and relatively cheap analysis of what the optimal amount of seed, fertilizer, pesticide and water is. Even those opposed to use of industrial pesticide must agree that using a little as possible is a good thing. It's the same with water: this advance will reduce the need of water, or increase it where water is necessary to guarantee a good harvest, and avoid wasting a crop.
The satellite provides an analysis of the spectrum of radiation which can help reveal properties of the soil, levels of minerals and moisture, and by adding weather patterns, indicate "how, where and when crops should be grown." The cost is as low as $15 a hectare, and by improving yields by up to 10% it's just another way that science can help farming without destroying the environment or using genetic modification to increase yields. France leads the way in the use of this technology, and governments in Canada are even getting in on the act, using the information to see where farmers are creating too much nitrate fertilizer. It'll soon help developing countries too, with African soil samples being taken to build and initial digital map that will be given free to farmers and supplemented with satellite imagery.
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