By Wayne Roberts, Resilience.org
I’m delighted to introduce Mark Winne’s latest book -- Stand Together or Starve Alone: Unity and Chaos in the U.S. Food Movement. I consider it the most important book going on today’s food movements.
By Wayne Roberts, Resilience.org
Local governments need to deal with food through the window of people issues – jobs, neighbourhood cohesion, neighbourhood rejuvenation, public safety, mental health, conviviality, the need for “third places,” immigrant welcoming, multiculturalism and interculturalism, community gardens, walkable shopping, farmers markets, school gardens, … the whole nine yards of city life.
By Wayne Roberts, Medium.com
But when it comes to food, we continue to believe that what you see, touch, hear, smell and taste is all that you get. Thankfully, food cannot be digitalized. But quite a bit short of that, I believe we need to do something to make ourselves more mindful about food’s unseen powers.
By Wayne Roberts, Medium.com
Traders have to communicate and mediate with all kinds of people. And we have a tradition of “polder politics” because we live in low-lying land (polder) that is always in danger of being flooded if the dykes don’t work. If you live with people in a polder, you have to work things out, or you’ll all drown. You need to talk with everybody. You need to get everybody on board.
By Kristina Johnson, Center for Urban Education about Sustainable Agriculture
As the Trump administration sets its sights on cutting federal nutrition programs, millions of Americans could stop receiving aid and millions of undocumented immigrants are afraid to sign up for the help they desperately need. Leaders in the anti-hunger movement in California gathered to discuss what it takes to fight hunger in the age of Trump.
By Olivier De Schutter, Green European Journal
A ‘successful’ Common Agricultural Policy reform thus defined, however, can come and go without any meaningful progress in addressing the challenge of building sustainable food systems in Europe. The problem with the CAP is not only what it does, but what as an agricultural policy it does not and cannot do. Europe urgently needs a food policy (or a ‘Common Food Policy’). There are five key reasons why this shift is required, and why the time is now ripe for it to occur.
By Eva Perroni, Sustainable Food Trust
The future of the United Kingdom’s food system is currently up in the air. Policy analysts and academics have warned that the UK’s decision to leave the European Union (EU) will have considerable impact on its food system. In recent years, a number of food reports and manifestos have been developed, calling for new visions and policies that ensure the future of food and farming move in a sustainable direction. The Brexit vote has stepped up these calls...
By Gunnar Rundgren, Garden Earth
There is a vibrant food movement in the UK and Brexit means that there will be a national food and agriculture policy in the future. Will the UK stick to its neoliberal free trade politics or will it take the opportunity to re-shape its food system? A People’s Food Policy want it to be fundamentally transformed.
By Wayne Roberts, Medium.com
It’s high time we think in terms of sustainability report cards on food issues, because report cards bring responsibility and agency into our mindset. Responsibility and agency are the missing ingredients in most reports we get on global warming, the environment and social trends. It’s as if these results are just facts, not results that were caused by someone, or the responsibility of someone.
By Staff, A People's Food Policy, Permaculture Association
A People’s Food Policy – a ground-breaking manifesto outlining a people’s vision of food and farming in England that is supported by over 80 food and farming organisations was launched on 26th June, 2017. The report draws on 18 months of extensive, nation-wide consultations with grassroots organisations, NGOs, trade unions, community projects, small businesses and individuals. It has resulted in a set of policy proposals and a vision for change that is rooted in the lived experiences and needs of people most affected by the failures in the current food system.
By Wayne Roberts, Medium
This story is my effort to softsoap you with the idea that practices, not policies, are where the action is in food. Nursing is a practice, law is a practice, and food and fitness must be seen primarily as a practice. We don’t attach enough importance to practices, and underestimate their importance, especially relative to policies and technologies. In my book, practices can claim pride of place, ahead of policy and technology.
By Wayne Roberts, Medium.com
Most useful to good food campaigners, McDonald’s book positions food security within the context of “human security” — a new way of framing the issues that boosts the chances of food getting the green light as a priority.