food - Arabica Robusta on Diigo

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The oil we eat: Following the food chain back to Iraq, By Richard Manning (Harper's Magazine)

Tags: petroleum, industry, food, security, agriculture, energy, harper, manning, iraq on 2008-07-16 and saved by5 people -All Annotations (0) -About

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“In this situation, we
cannot fail to be the object of envy and resentment. Our real task in the coming period is to devise a pattern of relationships
which will permit us to maintain this position of disparity without positive detriment to our national security. To do so,
we will have to dispense with all sentimentality and day-dreaming; and our attention will have to be concentrated everywhere
on our immediate national objectives. We need not deceive ourselves that we can afford today the luxury of altruism and world-benefaction.”“The
day is not far off,” Kennan concluded, “when we are going to have to deal in straight power concepts.”
As Kennan recognized, however, the maintenance of such a concentration of wealth often requires violent action. Agriculture
is a recent human experiment. For most of human history, we lived by gathering or killing a broad variety of nature's offerings.
Why humans might have traded this approach for the complexities of agriculture is an interesting and long-debated question,
especially because the skeletal evidence clearly indicates that early farmers were more poorly nourished, more disease-ridden
and deformed, than their hunter-gatherer contemporaries. Farming did not improve most lives. The evidence that best points
to the answer, I think, lies in the difference between early agricultural villages and their pre-agricultural counterparts—the
presence not just of grain but of granaries and, more tellingly, of just a few houses significantly larger and more ornate
than all the others attached to those granaries. Agriculture was not so much about food as it was about the accumulation of
wealth. It benefited some humans, and those people have been in charge ever since.

Five Steps to Sustainable Governance in Africa - Council on Foreign Relations

Paul Collier, a professor of economics at Oxford University and the author of The Bottom Billion, discusses policy options for helping the poorest countries in Africa. He says "there are severe limits on what we as outsiders can do," but suggests the United States should work on developing a set of international guidelines for natural resource management. He goes on to outline five steps to put African nations on a path toward better internal management of resource wealth. He is deeply concerned about the current food crisis and advocates that the United States should eliminate biofuels subsidies and that the European Union should get rid of its ban on genetically modified crops.

Tags: governance, sustainable, collier, international, development, food, security, crisis, africa on 2008-07-06 -All Annotations (0) -About

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Secret report: biofuel caused food crisis | Environment | The Guardian

Supporters of biofuels argue that they are a greener alternative to relying on oil and other fossil fuels, but even that claim has been disputed by some experts, who argue that it does not apply to US production of ethanol from plants.

"It is clear that some biofuels have huge impacts on food prices," said Dr David King, the government's former chief scientific adviser, last night. "All we are doing by supporting these is subsidising higher food prices, while doing nothing to tackle climate change."

Tags: biofuel, food, security, crisis, international, development, world, bank on 2008-07-06 and saved by11 people -All Annotations (0) -About

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Pambazuka News

there are five basic guidelines, or principles, that must form the basis of any food policy.

Tags: food, pambazuka, security, crisis, sovereignty on 2008-06-28 -All Annotations (0) -About

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there are five basic guidelines, or principles, that must form the basis of any food policy.
The Principle of food sovereignty.
The Principle of priority of food over export crops produced by small farms sustained by state provision of the necessary infrastructure of financial credit, water, energy, extension service, transport, storage, marketing, and insurance against crop failures due to climate changes or other unforeseen circumstances.
The Principle of self-reliance and national ownership and control over the main resources for food production.
The Principle of food safety reserves.
The Principle of a fair and equitable distribution of “reserve foods” among the population during emergencies.
the above quite commonsensical and, we believe, reasonable principles have not been followed by many governments in the South. They have been grossly violated through five main reasons,
Distorted state policies on production and trade (e.g. removal of tariffs that made local producers vulnerable to imported food
and grab by the rich commercial farmers
Effective loss of control over resources of food production,
Donor aid dependence
Disruption of the infrastructure of food production (as described above) that came as a consequence of the above four factors.
Just 10 corporations, including Aventis, Monsanto, Pioneer and Syngenta, control one third of the $23 billion commercial seed market and 80% of the $28 billion global pesticide market.
In an increasingly liberalizing (globalizing) world, Transnational Corporations (TNCs) have increased their control over the supply of water, especially in the South. In many cases, private sector participation in water services has been one of the “aid conditionalities” of the so-called “donor assistance” (ODAs) from donor countries and the IMF and the World Bank. Just three companies, Veolia Environnement (formerly Vivendi Environnement), Suez Lyonnaise des Eaux and Bechtel (USA), control a majority of private water concessions globally..
Add Sticky Note
- Privatized water.
  posted by pickinjava on 2008-06-28
The Social Enterprise Development (SEND) Foundation in Ghana have criticised multi-national companies that are trying, using the “opportunity” of “food crisis”, to capture African agriculture through the so-called “Green Revolution” for Africa. FoodFirst Information and Action Network (FIAN) said that peasants have been evicted in several African countries so that palm oil can be produced from forests.

The Post Online (Cameroon): IMF Says Food Crisis Good Opportunity For Cameroon

Tags: cameroon, food, crisis, imf on 2008-06-12 -All Annotations (0) -About

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allAfrica.com: Africa: The Story of Order # 81707503 (Page 1 of 2)

The cooking oil Hawa Birhim is about to receive in Koloma started life more than 15 months earlier, when Food for Peace director of the US Agency for International Development (USAID) Jeffrey Borns sat in his office in Washington, DC and signed Order # 81707503 for a total of 925 tonnes of the oil.

Tags: international, aid, foreign, usaid, chad, cameroon, food on 2008-06-07 -All Annotations (0) -About

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allAfrica.com: Africa: Food Summit Calls for More Investment in Agriculture

Tags: allafrica.com, food, crisis, security, fao, international, development on 2008-06-07 -All Annotations (0) -About

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rapport_oi_the-time-is-now_300508_en.pdf (application/pdf Object)

Tags: food, crisis, oxfam on 2008-06-03 -All Annotations (0) -About

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Op-Ed Contributor - The Rich Get Hungrier - Op-Ed - NYTimes.com

The recent rise in food prices has largely been caused by temporary problems like drought in Australia, Ukraine and elsewhere. Though the need for huge rescue operations is urgent, the present acute crisis will eventually end. But underlying it is a basic problem that will only intensify unless we recognize it and try to remedy it.

Tags: sen, economics, food, crisis, australia, capabilities on 2008-05-31 and saved by2 people -All Annotations (0) -About

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Manufacturing a Food Crisis

an intriguing question escaped many observers: how on earth did Mexicans, who live in the land where corn was domesticated, become dependent on US imports in the first place?

The Mexican food crisis cannot be fully understood without taking into account the fact that in the years preceding the tortilla crisis, the homeland of corn had been converted to a corn-importing economy by "free market" policies promoted by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank and Washington.

Tags: food, security, crisis, international, development, neoliberalism, bello on 2008-05-26 -All Annotations (0) -About

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an
intriguing question escaped many observers: how on earth did Mexicans,
who live in the land where corn was domesticated, become dependent on US
imports in the first place?
The Mexican food crisis cannot be fully understood without taking into
account the fact that in the years preceding the tortilla crisis, the
homeland of corn had been converted to a corn-importing economy by "free
market" policies promoted by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the
World Bank and Washington. The process began with the early 1980s debt
crisis. One of the two largest developing-country debtors, Mexico was
forced to beg for money from the Bank and IMF to service its debt to
international commercial banks. The quid pro quo for a
multibillion-dollar bailout was what a member of the World Bank
executive board described as "unprecedented thoroughgoing
interventionism" designed to eliminate high tariffs, state regulations
and government support institutions, which neoliberal doctrine
identified as barriers to economic efficiency.

Interest payments rose from 19 percent of total government expenditures
in 1982 to 57 percent in 1988, while capital expenditures dropped from
an already low 19.3 percent to 4.4 percent. The contraction of
government spending translated into the dismantling of state credit,
government-subsidized agricultural inputs, price supports, state
marketing boards and extension services. Unilateral liberalization of
agricultural trade pushed by the IMF and World Bank also contributed to
the destabilization of peasant producers.

This blow to peasant agriculture was followed by an even larger one in
1994, when the North American Free Trade Agreement went into effect.
Although NAFTA had a fifteen-year phaseout of tariff protection for
agricultural products, including corn, highly subsidized US corn quickly
flooded in, reducing prices by half and plunging the corn sector into
chronic crisis. Largely as a result of this agreement, Mexico's status
as a net food importer has now been firmly established.

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Can the whole world be fed? | SocialistWorker.org

"The food crisis appeared to explode overnight, reinforcing fears that there are just too many people in the world," wrote Eric Holt-Giménez and Loren Peabody of Food First. "But according to the FAO, with record grain harvests in 2007, there is more than enough food in the world to feed everyone--at least 1.5 times current demand. In fact, over the last 20 years, food production has risen steadily at over 2.0 percent a year, while the rate of population growth has dropped to 1.14 percent a year. Population is not outstripping food supply."

Tags: food, security, crisis, foodsecurity, capitalism, socialism, socialistworker on 2008-05-24 -All Annotations (0) -About

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Gambling with the futures | SocialistWorker.org

HISTORICALLY, FUTURES contracts were traded primarily between producers of commodities and consumers of commodities at large, regulated commodities exchanges. Most futures contracts eventually resulted in the actual delivery of a commodity on a set date.

That's all changed in recent years. Now, the bulk of firms trading on futures exchanges are speculators with no intention of ever receiving delivery of the commodities they are trading.

Tags: food, crisis, socialistworker, futures, speculative, contracts on 2008-05-20 -All Annotations (0) -About

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The Cutting Edge: Peak Food: Blaming the Victims

Driven by capitalist imperatives for short-term profit maximisation and long-term cost-minimisation, global agribusiness has established an international food production system that is, basically, dying.

Tags: food, security, agribusiness, agriculture, international, development on 2008-05-10 -All Annotations (0) -About

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The food economy's missing link | openDemocracy

Tags: food, security, agriculture, agribusiness, opendemocracy on 2008-05-09 -All Annotations (0) -About

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May 6 2008 - Agrofuels on Stolen Lands Continue to Threaten Colombian Rainforests and Communities

If agrofuels -- growing food for fuel -- continue to expand in Colombia, food prices are bound to rise and the nation's food security erode as is happening around the world. Decisive government action is needed to guarantee the lives and the safety of community members and to ensure reparation for environmental destruction and the human rights abuses. The exiled community leader Ligia Maria Cheverra has summed up the situation: "Our territory is being given to the palm oil producers. We need to stop every monoculture and the projects that are targeting our Colombia. This will affect the whole continent. Everything will be lost: the land, the water, the air, the animals, the people. What belongs to us is being destroyed. In Colombia those who speak out with a loud voice are being killed. Here only the ones who sell themselves are rewarded, and those who don’t are called guerrilleros."

Tags: biofuels, agrofuels, colombia, palmoil, agribusiness, food, security, crisis, activism, advocacy on 2008-05-07 -All Annotations (0) -About

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Neoliberal roots of Haiti's food crisis | SocialistWorker.org

Tags: food, crisis, security, haiti, neoliberalism, neoliberal, international, development on 2008-05-06 -All Annotations (0) -About

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The roots of this phenomenon lie with a fundamental shift away from local production of food products toward importation of these basic essentials and higher profits for Haiti's wealthy elite. It really began in the 1980s and coincides with the "Reagan Revolution" in the United States and a foreign policy that placed emphasis on the "private sector" as the motor of society in providing opportunities for the poor majority.
During that same period, a major transition occurred in Haiti. The Mevs, one of the wealthiest families in Haiti, bought the Haitian American Sugar Company, or HASCO, which had been one of the major sugar producers in the world.

The Mevs realized they would never be allowed to penetrate the U.S. market while it was controlled by the American company C&H Sugar, based in Hawaii. It made more economic sense for them to buy HASCO and sell off its equipment in exchange for positioning themselves as the major importer of sugar to Haiti.
The real hypocrisy of this system comes into play when you realize the contribution to the recent "food riots" that led to the fall of Haitian Prime Minister Jacques-Edouard Alexis by the so-called Group of Friends of Haiti, the United Nations and Haiti's elite.

Haiti has never been a free market; it's a captive market of 8.5 million who have no choice who they purchase basic staples from. There is no competition, as the few families who control the import of rice and beans have never tolerated it.

They have historically resorted to violence, coups and corruption to protect their interests. Yet these are the same families who have benefited most from the intervention of the international community since the ouster of Jean-Bertrand Aristide on February 29, 2004. Their profits have nearly doubled during this time period, and left the country vulnerable to the recent spike in international prices for staples such as rice and beans.
Another element of hypocrisy in this system is that while countries like Haiti cannot tax imported rice and beans, Haiti's elite have partnered with large agribusinesses in places like California, Idaho and Montana--which receive large U.S. government subsidies to produce the same products at cheaper prices. So while the current system condemns import tariffs as a form of "protectionism," it allows large producers in the U.S. to receive subsidies to grow these products.
So in reality, these so-called free-market capitalists are really competing over their share of these remittances, and not new wealth being generated in Haiti. Money that comes from thousands of Haitians living primarily in the U.S., Canada and Europe is then redistributed into the hands of a few families that control a monopoly on the importation of food, especially rice and beans.
SINCE THE ouster of Aristide in February 2004, there have been regular protests demanding his return. They have never stopped, and I venture to say they will never stop. Foremost is the fact that this is the only Haitian president to truly resist the international system that began with Ronald Reagan.
THE BRAZILIAN military is by its own nature and history a repressive force. One need not look further then its own history to confirm this. The Brazilians serve much the same role they play in their own country to repress the favelas. The only difference is that they use Haiti to whitewash their own brutal historical image internationally.

In Haiti, the Brazilians always shoot first, and detain without cause or warrant. Yet they wash their hands of responsibility for arresting thousands of Haitians, most of them incarcerated for political reasons without ever seeing a judge.
RECENTLY, THE Economist and the head of the UN hailed the occupation of Haiti as a success story. But just like the U.S. occupation in Iraq, the opposite is the case. What do the world ruling elites mean when they say that the occupation has been a success?

I HAVE to use a benchmark to qualify your question. For me, the benchmark was the recent protests on February 29, 2008 that marked the fourth anniversary of Aristide's ouster. More than 10,000 people took to the streets throughout Haiti to demand his return from exile.

Given your earlier questions, you might now begin to understand why. Haiti's occupation after his ouster has been a complete failure. There has been no discernable improvement in the lot of the average Haitian--quite the contrary, their lot has descended into more poverty and misery.
The most important act of solidarity is choosing whom you work with. They most closely reflect my own experiences and values for working in solidarity with grassroots organizations that are working to rebuild their lives following the ouster of Aristide and the brutal years of repression that followed. It is about creating an alternative to the NGO model of social engineering that allows for Haitians to lead in their own communities for sovereignty and economic and social justice.

Arabica Robusta's Bookmarks tagged food → View Popular

UPDATE 3-Biofuels major driver of food price rise-World Bank | Markets | Reuters

Friends of the Earth Africa on the food crisis

A Shortage of Democracy, Not Food

“Biofuels Behind World Food Crisis”- World Bank

The oil we eat: Following the food chain back to Iraq, By Richard Manning (Harper's Magazine)

Five Steps to Sustainable Governance in Africa - Council on Foreign Relations

Secret report: biofuel caused food crisis | Environment | The Guardian

Pambazuka News

The Post Online (Cameroon): IMF Says Food Crisis Good Opportunity For Cameroon

allAfrica.com: Africa: The Story of Order # 81707503 (Page 1 of 2)

allAfrica.com: Africa: Food Summit Calls for More Investment in Agriculture

rapport_oi_the-time-is-now_300508_en.pdf (application/pdf Object)

Op-Ed Contributor - The Rich Get Hungrier - Op-Ed - NYTimes.com

Manufacturing a Food Crisis

Can the whole world be fed? | SocialistWorker.org

Gambling with the futures | SocialistWorker.org

The Cutting Edge: Peak Food: Blaming the Victims

The food economy's missing link | openDemocracy

May 6 2008 - Agrofuels on Stolen Lands Continue to Threaten Colombian Rainforests and Communities

Neoliberal roots of Haiti's food crisis | SocialistWorker.org

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