Half a dozen of you fine fine people have sent in this New York Times op-ed about sustainable farming. Seems a shame not to repost it here.

My Forbidden Fruits (and Vegetables)
By JACK HEDIN

Rushford, Minn.

IF you’ve stood in line at a farmers’ market recently, you know that the local food movement is thriving, to the point that small farmers are having a tough time keeping up with the demand.

But consumers who would like to be able to buy local fruits and vegetables not just at farmers’ markets, but also in the produce aisle of their supermarket, will be dismayed to learn that the federal government works deliberately and forcefully to prevent the local food movement from expanding. And the barriers that the United States Department of Agriculture has put in place will be extended when the farm bill that House and Senate negotiators are working on now goes into effect. ... read more »

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Posted on 2 March, 2008 - 16:30

Photo Credit: Debt Slayer

This is some interesting populist politics. The Indian government has just announced that it will be cancelling all farmer debt by the beginning of next year, at a cost of $15bn. Predictably, this spike in rural funding comes before an election year, and 70% of Indians live in rural areas. Also, the government has pledged to keep food prices under control because, well, many Indians are having a hard time affording it.

So what to think of this? ... read more »

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Posted on 29 February, 2008 - 16:29

The New York Times carried an article by Eric Schlosser that complements yesterday's post on Hunger in America. ... read more »

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Posted on 3 December, 2007 - 20:07

Here's an interesting document from Via Campesina, provocatively titled Small Scale Farmers are Cooling Down the Earth. To see how they do it, scroll down to the lists.... ... read more »

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Posted on 24 November, 2007 - 16:46

Fatima Shabodien, from the Women on Farms Project in South Africa put out this important article in the Cape Times earlier this week. Reposted below, in case you've difficulty accessing it through the link above....

Farmworkers need dignified home in South Africa

November 19, 2007 Edition 1

Fatima Shabodien ... read more »

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Posted on 24 November, 2007 - 16:19

The good folk at the British newspaper, Socialist Worker, ran a piece I penned for them recently. Here it is, reposted from their website. ... read more »

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Posted on 13 November, 2007 - 23:16

The Ecologist has just run a story that I penned last month, about farmer suicides, drawing the line between those in the UK, those in India and, most recently, those in Australia. ... read more »

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Posted on 9 November, 2007 - 03:04

It's too early to say how many. But it's certain that the current drought in Australia will lead to a number farmers taking their own lives. In the Financial Times today is coverage of the Australian drought and its impact on farmers. From that report comes this augury:

“I think it will push people over the edge,” says Mr Donald. “The hedges have used up a lot of equity and a lot of people are faced with very difficult decisions.”

John Macdonald, professor of primary healthcare at the University of Western Sydney, says the drought has raised the risk of suicide among Australia’s farmers to a point where they should be classified alongside high-risk groups such as the country’s Aborigines and those who have been incarcerated. “There is no doubt that the severe economic stress that many farmers face because of the drought puts them at much greater risk of suicide,” he said. ... read more »

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Posted on 31 October, 2007 - 16:44

South Africa's Mail and Guardian newspaper has a splendid article on the conflict between the 'green' issue of climate change and the 'red' issue of poverty eradication. There is, of course, no dichotomy here. Sustainable ways of addressing climate change *have* to involve the eradication of poverty. It's true that livestock farming contributes to climate change. What's interesting here is a new twist.

While most of the environmentally destructive livestock production happens in the Global North in Concentrated Animal Feedlot Operations (CAFOs), it is poor farmers, usually in the Global South, who end up being the scapegoat for environmental degradation. We've seen similar tactics at work before, in the blaming of small farmers for bird flu, a disease incubated and spread by large-scale poultry operations. For those of us concerned both about climate change, and about eradicating poverty, this remind us to point the finger in the right direction.... ... read more »

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Posted on 10 October, 2007 - 16:20

Moving a little north for this African posting, it was pleasing to see this article in the New York Times last week. One of the most dangerous ideas in international development is the notion that food aid is designed to help the poor. In fact (and I go into this at some length in the book), it was invented to find a home for a domestic crop surplus, as part of the war on communism. Under this rubric, it didn't much matter that food aid, dumped into a country where the poorest people are farmers, and struggling to survive an already parlous situation, had the effect of wiping out any possibility of earning money for the 'beneficiaries'. Instead, they were reduced to penury, hooked on the largesse of food aid. Mission accomplished. ... read more »

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Posted on 22 August, 2007 - 15:50