(upbeat music)
I'm always thinking about food,
but I hardly ever think about where my food comes from.
Obviously the grocery store,
but beyond that, I have no idea how my food gets sourced,
processed or transported.
I don't know if it's organic, if it's produced ethically,
if it's accessible to all people, or if it's harvested
and transported sustainably.
These are all questions
I obviously don't have the answer to,
but questions that something called
So today we're gonna talk about the idea
of food sovereignty and to help us understand it better,
we'll be talking to agroecologist
and climate advocate, Alexa White.
And in order to do that, we should recognize the personhood
in the humans that are allowing us to have that.
- First thing's first.
What is food sovereignty?
- Food sovereignty is essentially how people,
nations and states have the right to their food,
have the right to define what agriculture
and food policy happens surrounding their food.
So, that can begin with farmers and how the food is produced
to how the food is transported,
and then what it looks like when it comes to your table.
- So, from planting a seed to eating a banana for breakfast,
food sovereignty makes sure every step
of the food process is as
And to achieve such fairness,
food sovereignty is
The first one is food for people.
This one is simple, producing food that's healthy
and accessible to all people and communities,
no matter the region they live in,
or their socioeconomic status.
Food sovereignty is actually a major issue
in the international agricultural debate
and it's also a big part
of the ongoing fight for racial justice.
Since food justice is intertwined
with a history of structural racism
that in many cases, marginalizes
and impacts people of color in the farming sector.
- I personally would say
that these issues are definitely affecting Black
and Brown bodies in general throughout the world.
So demographically, people of color are definitely
most effected considering the people who grow our food,
and when I say our, I mean the people
of the world, and then geographically,
nations of the Global South are definitely
most effected by this.
So when I say Global South,
I'm pretty much identifying lower income countries,
so those in South America, those in Africa.
These people are definitely most affected,
mostly because of how much food actually comes
from these lands.
- So respecting the rights of the farmers who harvest
and produce our food and making sure
that policies are not taking advantage of them
or jeopardizing their livelihoods.
You would think that farmers would have rights
over their production in the first place, right?
Unfortunately, this power often falls in the hands
of corporations, governments, and market institutions
that decide all current international trade, finance,
and investment policies.
A perfect example of this is the farmers
in India who have been protesting their government
against the corporatization of agriculture
and the right to food sovereignty since August, 2020.
The government isn't giving the power to the farmers.
In reality, they're giving the power
to the corporations who will decide
- Essentially, the demonstrators are demanding
that the prime minister repeal the recent farming laws
where there is a minimization
of the government's role in agriculture
and it provides more space
for private investors to kind of emphasize
and grow that industrial agricultural setting.
- This gives both producers and consumers
the control to decide how they want to sell
or buy their food, meaning organic foods
from a local market and non-GMO food from corporations.
Similarly, this also gives food producers control
over their own crops, but more on how they decide
to graze their land, water their crops
and conserve their livestock.
Basically giving them the option to be more sustainable
in their own way.
- A lot of my work is trying to figure out
what we can do in response.
We already have those solutions.
So if you look at a small scale farmer,
so by small-scale farmer, I mean a farm that is less
than two hectares, up to or equal to,
most small scale farms, they're usually owned by families,
they're growing multiple crops.
They have a lot of forest edge and
to be aiming towards
if we were to have a sustainable future in farming.
- Food sovereignty allows farmers to pass
down generational knowledge and harvesting practices
rather than force food providers to adapt to expensive
and threatening technology, like genetic engineering.
And last but not least, the sixth pillar
of food sovereignty is working with nature.
So basically, finding the harmony between agriculture
and ecological processes that improve the conditions
of the planet, especially during a climate crisis.
The land we used to grow crops
and raise livestock is responsible
for approximately one quarter
of the world's greenhouse gas emissions,
and it's mostly because current
industrial agricultural practices are not sustainable.
A lot of large scale farming is dependent on oil,
which is used in fertilizers, pesticides,
and heavy production machinery.
Then there's global distribution systems
that contribute heavily
to air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions.
And if we keep farming like this,
it'll just contribute to more climate change,
which in turn will impact harvest yields.
You get it.
It's just another vicious cycle.
- Essentially, if we're to think about agriculture
as it exists through time,
we are currently in a corporate food regime.
And so what I mean by that is that a lot
of the ways that agriculture can be characterized today
would be through agricultural intensification.
And so that's where you see a lot of monocultures,
a lot of pesticides being used,
a lot of land being cleared out.
- So too long; didn't read,
the idea of food sovereignty is just trying
to heal the planet
and reject industrialized production methods,
which only contribute to the climate crisis.
But as Alexa said, we already have the solutions.
A lot of local farmers are already practicing
sustainable farming,
things like managing water wisely,
avoiding toxic chemicals, promoting biodiversity,
and overall strengthening nearby ecosystems.
It's just a matter of leaving the idea
of industrial agriculture behind
and embracing more sustainable agricultural practices
in our respective communities.
Organizations like the United Nations, Via Campesina
and Black Food Sovereignty Coalition are investing time
and resources into fighting for food sovereignty.
But if you
Start by supporting your own community
and buying from local farmers and supermarkets
that hold high standards
for fair treatment of workers and care for the environment.
Or support food justice organizations led
by people of color.
Organizations like Soul Fire Farms have
reparation maps that lead you to food
and farm projects organized
by people of color that needs support.
But the easiest way to start working
towards food sovereignty is to
- I would say to anyone who wants to get involved
in these sorts of discussions,
to look at the food that you're eating for dinner,
the kinds of things that you do in your everyday,
just paying attention to exactly where your food comes from,
how you're getting your food,
and what your food really means to you
will link you kind of culturally and factually
into exactly what I'm talking about on a global scale.