Good Food is Everybody's Business
Fatou Batta, Co-Coordinator for West Africa from Groundswell International, spoke recently in Seattle about the causes of food insecurity in Africa, particularly in Burkina Faso; the role of rural women in agricultural production and food security; the challenges rural women face; and some of the solutions they have developed.
Lawyers are busy trying to deal with new challenges from manufacturers of genetically engineered seed crops. There are two in the works now: one against the USDA charging that they did not handle the approval of genetically modified alfalfa in a lawful manner. The second is is a preemptive move that challenges the right of Monsanto to charge farmers whose plants have become contaminated with Monsanto’s genetically modified seeds with intellectual piracy. The Cornucopia Institute is a plaintiff in both cases, and Mark Kastel speaks about these issues.
Marra Farm in Seattle’s South Park, an urban farm that grows food for the hungry, is caught in a moral dilemma. Should they use seeds donated from companies who also sell Monsanto varieties? Martha Baskin, Green Acre Radio, visits the farm and explores the issue.
We put money in banks to keep it safe, so it will be there when we need it. In the same way, seeds are put in special facilities, called seed banks, which keep them safe and extend their viability, so they will be available for many years.
Frank Morton has been breeding and selecting seed for more than 25 years. In this video, he talks about the importance of seed and how the interaction between seed and human changed both.
Dutch dairy farmer, Willy van Bakel, lived the American dream by buying and growing a successful 3,000-cow dairy farm in Michigan. Over the last 13 years he has helped 70 Dutch dairy farmers to immigrate to Ohio to set up their own farms. Was van Bakel helping his countrymen live the same dream or was he simply fleecing them out of millions of dollars?
Farmers and consumer groups filed a lawsuit against the USDA arguing the recent unrestricted approval of GE “Roundup Ready” alfalfa was unlawful. The suit charges that GE alfalfa threatens the rights of farmers and consumers, as well as significant harm to the environment.
Listen to this broadcast by WAMC Northeast Public Radio, where Susan Barnett talks with Page Tomaselli, a staff attorney with the Center for Food Safety about the decision by the USDA to allow unrestricted planting of genetically engineered alfalfa. It’s not the first crop that’s been genetically engineered by chemical giant Monsanto to allow heavy pesticide use, but it’s perhaps the most threatening so far, with opponents calling it the beginning of genetic pollution of not only crops, but the animals and people who eat them.
