Driven by big corporations, the agricultural system no longer values healthy, delicious food, productive and sustainable rural communities or people’s right to make decisions about their communities and their farms.
This is why food sovereignty – the right for all people to decide what they eat and to ensure that food in their community is ecologically, socially, economically, and culturally appropriate – is so important.
The international food sovereignty movement formed to address the indignities of the current food system. It is composed of small farmers, fishers, consumers, environmentalists and Indigenous Peoples – all seeking to define their own agricultural, labor, fishing, food and land policies. The food sovereignty movement calls for policies that are ecologically, socially, economically and culturally appropriate for their circumstances. Communities around the world that are embracing food sovereignty are supported by La Via Campesina, an international advocacy network of small-producer organizations representing over 150 million farmers, fishers, foresters and agricultural workers on five continents.
The six principles of food sovereignty call for:
When these simple-yet-revolutionary principles are incorporated into national and international trade and agricultural policies – and when they become a visible reality in our own communities – we will know that the fight for food sovereignty has been won.
Grassroots International joins our global partners and allies as part of a growing movement for food sovereignty.
Brazil is facing one of the deadliest and most mismanaged COVID-19 crises in the world. But the Landless Workers' Movement (MST) is demanding emergency reforms to end government inaction and to protect lives, land and communities.
There is still much to do, especially at a time in which almost everyone is worried about the impending economic fallout of an uncertain political moment. But as the Puerto Rican food movement looks into the future, Comedores Sociales has a slogan that says it all: ‘We don't eat austerity; we cook dignity.’
