© luke chanPoor wages, trade policies that dump foreign agricultural products into the market undercutting farm prices, and government policy that pushes small farmers off their landโthese are the causes of hunger.
Yesterday I heard someone talking about how the US has a responsibility to "feed the world". I have a real problem with this, who gave us this mandate?
The thought of the US "feeding the world" is ridiculous in so many ways, but more so, it is condescending to say the least, to the rest of the world. Who made us keepers of the world? Who decided we knew how to feed them and who decided the people of world were incapable of feeding themselves?
In the first place they may not want to eat what we want to feed them, which would be mostly Genetically Modified (GM) corn and soy and fat beef with hormone residues. Sorry, I don't want to eat that either.
Corporate agribusiness apparently determined it was their right to decide what the world should eat and thanks to their healthy campaign contributions, the US government politically and economically
supports their agenda. International trade deals currently being negotiated with the European Union (
TTIP) and the Pacific Rim nations (
TPP) would, among other things, force acceptance of GM crops and prohibit labeling of GM foods. So, this would be law, the world would grow GM crops and the world would eat GM food, like it or not.
Unfortunately many farmers bought into the "promise" of GM crops and by default, a dependence on chemical fertilizer, toxic pesticides and the questionable utility and safety of GM as animal feed and as a major ingredient in processed foods that people eat. In the US the vast majority of food (organic food being the exception) has
GM content, because that is what is grown here - and many would wish that scenario on the rest of the world.
There is always the implication that the world is somehow incapable. They are not hungry because they are stupid, or because they don't know what to eat, or how to grow crops adapted to their climate. They are hungry because they are poor.
When they (industrial agriculture) speak about feeding the world, will they be giving the hungry of the world all the food they need?
Because most
hungry people are poor people, they are not in the position to buy their food, if they were they would be doing it now wouldn't they? So, who will pay for all this? That is a question no one seems to have an answer for. Somehow, I doubt the industrial food system plans to lose money when they begin feeding the world.
Benevolence is not one of their virtues.
We in the US have not had much experience dealing with foreign governments and corporations taking away our farmland, or civil wars, or dictators. In the midst of genocide, I would guess growing ones own food is not the priority.
Nation-wide droughts and lack of infrastructure that cause the loss of much of the agricultural production, loans from the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank that take a good share of the rest for loan repayments all take their toll and leave little to put on one's plate.
A lack of corporately owned agricultural technology does not cause hunger any more than a lack of aspirin causes headaches. Poor wages, trade policies that dump foreign agricultural products into the market undercutting farm prices, and government policy that pushes small farmers off their land - these are the causes of hunger.
So, let's get this straight, we don't need to feed the world. The indigenous farmers of the world have been around longer than the US farmer has, in many ways they taught us how to feed ourselves. They do not want to eat what corporate agribusiness wants to feed them, they want culturally appropriate diets that are healthy and adapted to their farms - and that is clearly more important than corporate profit.
Politically, "feeding the world" is a reason to control the world - so the world, especially the poor, will fit neatly into the equation for ever-growing corporate profit. Because increasingly it seems, corporate profit is all that matters politically.
To say "we are feeding the world" is nothing more than a justification for the industrial farming practices that squeeze every possible bit of profit from every acre, every animal and every farmer. Confined animal feeding operations, water pollution, soil erosion, toxic pesticides, farm worker abuse - it has to be accepted because it is the only way to "feed the world".
Jim Goodman is an organic expert, a writer and voice of sustainable agriculture.
We are a small farm. We joined Organic Valley (a 'certified organic' company) in 2000, in an attempt to get a better price for our main product, which was grass-based, pure organic cow milk. We had already been milking a small 20 cow herd for 20 years organically (and lovingly) and our financial position was precarious, at best. In those 20 years, we saw literally dozens of nearby, similarly sized family dairies, give up.
Organic Valley turned out to be a con job and brute. The first milk hauler truck they sent in, as per contract, was fitted with outrageously worn out tires. This truck and driver, nearly bashed the side of our milk house in, when the tires could not perform. I was told to do a better job of 'driveway maintenance' or I would not be picked up. Eventually, a truck with better tires and driver appeared.
Some years later, Organic Valley started sending in semi-sized milk haulers. These enormous vehicles completely devastated our small yard by rutting and making deep tire trenches in wet, but typical Minnesota weather. They frequently got stuck right in our yard during any type of snow. At all times, Organic Valley maintained that it was 'my responsibility' to present a suitable area for these trucks to maneuver. This was entirely unjust! I became disconsolate and enraged. Particularly when our waterline to our barn froze one January, due, in my view, to the heavy and constant degrading vehicle traffic over the underground system. It had never done so before, in 20 plus years of sometimes extremely frigid weather and needless to say, a barn full of cows with no water was a nightmare to me and my wife.
Rather than display any concern or respond to my complaints, legitimate needs and charges of abuse, Organic Valley then proceeded to cancel our contract (as I continued to express my concerns) and we were wiped out. We have never recovered from that economic devastation and abuse. It would require much space to share the full measure of what has gone wrong since.
Jim Goodman was one of the many many ag business insiders, writers and organizers, whom I asked for help in dealing with our trauma. He,as with the rest, refused, stating specifically to me, that it was between 'Organic Valley and ourselves' and not something he would involve himself in.
sincerely
Guy A. Ekola
Garfield, Mn.