Farmers all over the world are in danger of becoming serfs to new masters. But consumers have a big responsibility and an enormous power. How are we going to use that power?
As I write (July 2008), 152 countries are still talking in Geneva about liberalisation of world trade – just. It is obvious that free trade is an extremely difficult subject, especially because there are so many conflicting interests. Freedom for one can mean bondage for another. Two weeks ago I saw a film which brings me to this observation, especially where trade in food is concerned.
The film I saw was made by a French research journalist and shown in Switzerland at the Caux conference ‘Trust and Integrity in the Global Economy’, as part of the day organised by the International Farmers Dialogue group. The English version I saw was called ‘The world according to Monsanto’. According to the maker of the two hour documentary, a biotechnological firm’s freedom to expand deprives farmers, not only in the USA but all over the world, of their freedom. The film suggests that this has nothing to do with wanting to feed the world, but all about wanting to control in order to make money, not shunning the most devious and malicious ways to do that.
It reminded me of the Middle Ages when in Europe, by and large, farmers were in serfdom to their masters, who owned the land. Farmers had to free themselves to become masters of their land and produce – and in due course, they did. Now many, all over the world, seem in danger of becoming serfs to new masters.
‘Food empires’ claim that they are out to solve the food shortage; but others say that food empires are part of the problem. Professor in rural sociology Jan Douwe van der Ploeg of the University of Wageningen (he coined the phrase ‘food empires’) states in the development cooperation magazine ‘Onze Wereld’ (Our World) that ‘agricultural farming’ (as opposed to industrial farming), which has been neglected for decades, needs reinforcing. Through the rules of the world market, developing countries have not been able to conduct their own agricultural policy. The markets are ruled by the food empires. A counter-movement is needed. ‘Fair trade’ is one such movement.
Countries need to be able to organize the food supply for their own people as they want to and not to have to leave that to foreign powers. A proposal of the sort was once discussed by the European agricultural ministers, Van der Ploeg recalls. The Netherlands and Great Britain were among the countries most strongly against. The Netherlands is one of the major food exporters in the world, which makes us an important spider in the imperial food web, Van der Ploeg says. He claims that it is not the food empires but rather the ordinary farmers that can make sure that food productivity rises, provided they can get credits and good prices for their products.
Van der Ploeg is in the good company of over 400 scientists from all over the world, who worked for six years on the International Assessment of Agricultural Knowledge, Science and Technology for Development (IAASTD). This study, backed by the World Bank and the WHO, was presented last April at an intergovernmental conference in Johannesburg. The IAASTD reflects a growing consensus among the global scientific community and most governments that industrial, energy-intensive and toxic agriculture is a concept of the past. The key message of the report is that small-scale farmers and agro-ecological methods provide the way forward to avert the current food crisis. So more equitable trade arrangements are necessary, knowledge needs to be shared and investments made.
One of the Dutch scientists who worked on this report says: ‘Rich countries have for decades been able to invest in their own infrastructure before they started to promote free trade. To break open the poor countries, before they have a comparable infrastructure, will destroy them.’ Professor Bob Watson, director of IAASTD says: ‘Agriculture can no longer be thought of simply as production. We need to include social, economic and environmental issues, and think about the gender and cultural impacts.’
As I was writing this, I read in the paper an encouraging example of farmers in Ciudad del Este, Paraguay, who have decided to choose their own future. Eleven years ago they formed a bastion of resistance against the agribusiness and the use of pesticides and GMO’s. They grow increasingly organic, sell their produce on their own market and make a living! It took some time for them, they say, to realize that pesticide is in fact poison. They can now grow more cheaply, because they do not need to buy artificial fertilizer and pesticides. ‘We fight for the life on our planet,’ they say. They have now 1800 families in their association from all over the province Alto Paraná.
And what about consumers? Are we free to choose what we buy and eat and if so, how do we use that freedom responsibly? Can consumers join hands with farmers and choose products that burden the environment as little as possible, products for which farmers get a good price, products that are grown organically, taste better and are healthier? For which animals did not have to suffer and for which animal food did not travel halfway round the world? Many consumers long for this kind of food, as comes clear from the increased desire to grow one’s own food. I read that in the USA well-kept lawns are making place for vegetable gardens. In the UK this also appears to be a new trend. And in my country the Netherlands there are waiting lists for the allotments gardens on the outskirts of the cities, where they want to grow their own vegetables.
Can consumers and farmers together join hands with the food industry as equal partners to work towards a healthy food production: healthy for people and for the planet? With that aim Initiatives of Change (IofC) Italy is organising in October 2008 a conference in Bologna, supported by teams of IofC in France, the Netherlands and Germany. ‘Between surplus and famine – Food: a crossroads for peace’, is the title. Different local organisations are co-organisers of this three day event.
Consumers have a big responsibility and an enormous power. How are we going to use that power?
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