Report from the Nyéléni Pan-European Forum for Food Sovereignty

The 2nd Nyéléni Europe Forum for food sovereignty took place in Cluj-Napoca, Romania between 26 – 30 October 2016. The full report from the forum is available here. The gathering was an important stepping stone for building a strong food sovereignty movement in Europe, especially in Eastern Europe, as well as in several other European … Read more

LISTENING TO PASTORALISTS

Farming Matters | 32.4 | December 2016 This issue of Farming Matters explores the different ways pastoral societies are joining forces to challenge the policies that undermine their culture and way of life. For millennia, pastoralist societies have managed the rangelands of the world’s most challenging environments, producing food and providing ecosystem services for millions of households. … Read more

Editorial: Food Sovereignty from the ground up

Worldwide, the food sovereignty movement is taking root. The multitude of new food sovereignty initiatives speak to its strength as a concept, and as a source of practical responses to today’s problematic food and farming system. The stories in this issue of Farming Matters address interwoven issues of food sovereignty related to production, processing, trade … Read more

Opinion: Peasants embody food sovereignty

In his call for solidarity, Masa Koné argues that food sovereignty is about controlling our peasant seeds. Currently, we live in a world of extremes in the global food system. On one hand, there are the politics of the capitalist system, of those who control the world and just want to make business at our … Read more

Agroecology for food sovereignty

In what ways is agroecology a means to food sovereignty? In Brazil, claiming land rights was the first step along one group of farmers’ pathway to autonomy. The next was to develop and maintain agroecological practices. To achieve this goal, these farmers never worked alone. Strong self-organisation and long-lasting partnerships enabled them to redesign their … Read more

Special section – Food sovereignty: stories from Europe

Producers and citizens are working together to transform our food systems to make them more socially just, culturally appropriate and respectful of the environment. While shifts in policy are overdue, struggles to attain food sovereignty are popping up all over Europe. This special section highlights a few of these. Introduction Agriculture in Europe has long … Read more

Resisting land grabbing in Germany

Land grabbing is no longer a phenomenon of the Global South only. In rural Germany, a highly undemocratic form of land control is accelerating the process of land concentration, contributing to the increase of land prices and creating barriers for young farmers to enter agriculture. With the Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of … Read more

Regaining trust: alternative food systems in the Czech Republic

Four decades of communism and an overnight transition from socialism to the free market caused dramatic shifts in consumer – food producer relationships across Eastern Europe. In the Czech Republic, a history of cooperatives and local food production contrasts with the situation today. Now the country is almost entirely dependent on international trade and supermarkets. … Read more

Opinion: Nutrition grows in farmers’ fields

Mariann Bassey-Orovwuje explains that to build food sovereignty in Africa, we need to speak with farmers and look in their fields. We are faced with incredible challenges that are being intensified by the false solutions of seed and biotech companies. With their ‘experts’ and ‘scientists’, in connivance with government agencies, they all claim to be … Read more

Locally rooted: ideas and intiatives from the field

Striving for food sovereignty takes many shapes and forms. From innovations in farmers’ fields to legal reform that supports farmers’ rights, each initiative contributes to a stronger movement. Scroll down to read stories from Algeria, Australia, Switzerland and Colombia.  Algeria Innovation keeps tradition alive Food sovereignty in marginal areas of the Maghreb has always depended … Read more