January 2007		Food Sovereignty E-Newsletter				Volume 2 Issue 1
Have you ever added spices to your stir-fry? Do you enjoy chocolate? Is part of your daily routine a cup of coffee? Those taste bud delights would not have been possible in the United States without trade. Farmers have depended on their rights to barter or trade for centuries. Without fair trade principles, there will never be food sovereignty. We seek to achieve food sovereignty through everyday actions to reclaim control of our food system. Join us in working towards a fair food system that ensures health, justice, and dignity for all. Please share this resource to empower others to celebrate food sovereignty with every forkful! Click here to subscribe to the Food Sovereignty E-Newsletter.
What’s on the Table in this Issue: TRADE Defining Food Sovereignty Free Trade: Losing the Right to Grow Food Rules of Engagement Grassroots Organizing, Regional Trade Agreements, and Food Sovereignty in Africa Take Action Legislation Impacting Food Sovereignty Resources: Food Sovereignty Publications Upcoming Food Sovereignty Events: February 17-20 Food Justice: NFFC Winter Meeting, Washington, DC February 22-27 Via Campesina Nyeleni Food Sovereignty Conference, Mali Mali Farmer Story Share your food sovereignty events! E-mail Deb 7 Basic Principles of Food Sovereignty: 1. Food: A Basic Human Right 2. Agrarian Reform 3. Protecting Natural Resources 4. Fair Trade 5. Ending Global Hunger 6. Peace 7. Democratic Control For More Information on Food Sovereignty: Via Campesina National Family Farm Coalition Grassroots International Food & Water Watch Food First Family Farm Defenders What You Can Do: Donate $5 to $10 per month to directly improve our food system! You can fund projects like sending dairy farmers to DC to defend the integrity of the definition of milk. Click here to make your contribution!	Free Trade: Losing the Right to Grow Food By Mark Winne, Communications Director of the Community Food Security Coalition When food and farming are so finely woven into the fabric of a nation’s history and culture, why should they become pawns on a chessboard dominated by major pieces like auto, electronics, and textiles? We could easily dismiss the issue of free trade as too distant and of little consequence to our lives. After all, aren’t the Koreans masters of their own fate and can’t they just say “no” to big, bad Uncle Sam? The principle of food sovereignty, however, is much harder to ignore. READ ON…
	Rules of Engagement By Jim Goodman, Organic Dairy Farmer Globalization needs rules, strong rules. Here in the United States, we assume everyone wants to be like us. Well, they don't. They may want some of the economic security and safety nets we and other industrialized countries have, but plopping a few Kentucky Fried Chicken franchises down here and there in developing countries, or making sure stores have Levis and Nike on their shelves does not mean globalization is working or those countries have pulled themselves out of poverty. Consumerism is not a measure of success just because we say it is; our consumer society has more than it's share of economic inequality. Global trade agreements must provide for a living wage and social justice for workers, so far it has been little more than a spiral to the bottom pulling wages down to the lowest level. READ ON…
	Grassroots Organizing, Regional Trade Agreements and Food Sovereignty in Africa By Corrina Steward, Grassroots International Grassroots movements have made great strides towards putting the power of the food system in citizens’ hands, but ongoing bi-lateral and regional trade negotiations threaten to curtail these advances. In less than a month, hundreds of farmers, farmworkers, fishers and environmentalists will gather in Bamako, Mali for the first-ever World Forum on Food Sovereignty. They will advance the objectives of a growing international movement for an equitable and sustainable food system. Participants will set strategy for how to oppose the wave of bi-lateral and regional trade agreements that are replacing WTO agreements. They also hope to deepen global commitments to food sovereignty on political, economic, social and ecological levels. READ ON…
	Legislation Impacting Food Sovereignty Fair Competition Over two hundred organizations urged Congress to ensure a fair marketplace for the nation’s farmers, ranchers and consumers in a letter delivered to the Chairs and members of the congressional House and Senate Agriculture and Judiciary Committees on January 18th. The letter represents the concerns of the millions of members of the signatory organizations that the concentration and power exerted by a few mega-corporations over our farming and food system has a dramatic, negative impact not only on farmers and ranchers, but also on our communities, the environment, food quality, food safety, and consumer prices. It undermines sustainable production practices and state and local laws that support family-scale, sustainable farm and ranch operations. “If we are to make sustainable family farms the norm and not the exception in this country, we need public policy to make sure we reverse the advance of industrial food production, processing, and marketing,” stated George Naylor, president of the National Family Farm Coalition. Click here to read the competition letter.
	Resources! Building Sustainable Futures for Farmers Globally While inequitable agricultural subsidies are one of the factors that contribute to the crisis in agriculture by indirectly depressing commodity prices, the elimination of subsidies alone will not solve the crisis. Indeed, unless new farm policies are first put in place that provide fair prices to farmers from the market and curtail overproduction, eliminating U.S. farm subsidies could in fact harm many smaller-scale family farmers in the United States and lead to further market concentration. As a result, the Building Sustainable Futures for Farmers Globally campaign advocates a broad platform to address the overproduction and low prices that are harming small farmers in the U.S. and abroad. We pledge our support for alternative agriculture and trade policies that will provide sustainable livelihoods for farmers in the United States and around the globe, by helping to ensure that global food corporations pay family farmers a fair price for their products in the marketplace and promote socially and environmentally sustainable farming. Click here to view the policy document, and click here for the sign-on statement. For more information, visit www.globalfarmer.org. Food Sovereignty Brochure National Family Farm Coalition and Grassroots International developed a food sovereignty brochure to empower family farmers across the world. Click here to view. (It is a large file and takes quite some time to download, even with a fast connection, so give it a minute.) Upcoming Food Sovereignty Event Monday, February 19^th 4:30pm – 10:00pm At Bus Boys & Poets in Washington, DC Local, fresh, family farm raised food along with inspiring leaders will kick off the United States delegates to the Nyeleni World Forum on Food Sovereignty taking place in Sélingué, Mali from February 22-27. If you desire real change in our food system, then plan to attend Bus Boys & Poets on Monday evening, as you shouldn’t pass up the chance to listen to the authentic stories of those that have dedicated their life to justice in food. “Nyéléni 2007” aims to define a global and collective strategy to guarantee the right of all peoples to food sovereignty. Five hundred delegates representing farmers, fisherfolks, indigenous peoples, women’s groups, workers, environmentalists, consumers, NGOs, youth groups, and government representatives will meet to advance food sovereignty on all levels within all sectors. Join us in celebration and learn what you can do in the global struggle for food sovereignty! If you would like more information, please call 202-543-5675 or e-mail nffc@nffc.net
The National Family Farm Coalition is building support for a growing international food sovereignty movement—one which seeks to guarantee the basic right of communities to choose where and how their food is produced and what food they consume. Fighting for a fair price, farmers are leading the way to change the food system. A simplified definition of Food Sovereignty is the right of peoples, countries, and nations to decide their own food and agricultural policies, the right to produce food for their own domestic markets, the right to a fair price, and the right to protect those markets from being destroyed by the dumping of cheap imports sold below the cost of production in the country where they were grown. If you want your e-mail address removed from our list or new addresses added, please contact Deb Eschmeyer.
Tel: 202-543-5675			Fax: 202-543-0978		E-mail: nffc@nffc.net
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