Grassroots International Joins with U.S. Allies to Tell the Candidates: « Reform food policy and end the food crisis »

Global food prices have almost doubled in recent years, in large part due to U.S. policies, and now nearly 1 billion people worldwide – including 50 million here in the U.S. – are facing hunger. Keep reading to find out how you can take action for change.

The food crisis is not a crisis in the availability of food.  In fact, there is more than enough food to feed everyone in the world.  Over the last 20 years, world food production has risen steadily at over 2% a year, while the rate of global population growth has dropped to 1.14% a year.  

Rather, the current « food crisis » is a symptom of a food system in crisis.  Climate change, high oil prices, the diversion of food crops to fuel crops, and food commodities speculation have all contributed to rising hunger.  But more fundamentally, public funds for grain subsidies, foreign aid, and international agricultural development over the past half century have created a food system that is highly vulnerable to economic and environmental shock.  That system is dominated by a global industrial agri-foods complex made up of multinational grain traders, giant seed, chemical and fertilizer corporations, food processors and global supermarket chains.

As George Naylor, a family farmer from Iowa and member of the National Family Farm Coalition, put it, « A sign in Iowa reads, ‘Iowan farmers feed the world.’  It really means ‘Iowan farmers feed corporate pigs.’  We need real solutions that do not give corporations control over our food supply and produce food damaging to our health.  The whole fabric of rural life-and our entire society-is at stake. »

That’s why Grassroots International has joined with our allies to form the U.S. Working Group on the Food Crisis , a new national network that challenges our leaders to fix our broken food system.  We’re demanding that the next U.S. administration take rapid steps to address the food crisis, through fundamental changes to the federal government’s food, farm labor, and international aid policies.  

Sign on now to help us get our message to both Presidential candidates before November 4th.

From regulation of the finance sector’s investment in food commodities, to eliminating the farmworker exemption in the National Labor Relations Act, to reinforcing the social safety net for low-income people in the U.S., we can take positive steps now to ensure food for all, both nationally and globally.

We’re building a powerful movement to usher in a new era of food sovereignty: an era in which all people have the right to decide what they eat and to ensure that agriculture in their community is fair and healthy for everyone.  To have a real impact, we need as many people as possible to join the movement.  Help strengthen our efforts – sign onto the call to action now.

Let’s put our voices together and hold our leaders accountable to fix our broken food system.