Food Sovereignty: Reconnecting Food, Nature & Community

by Hannah Wittman (Editor), Nettie Wiebe (Contributor), Rebecca Haskell

With increasing hunger in the world, especially among marginalised populations in both the North and South, the current high-input, industrialised, market-driven food system is failing. It is failing to provide for the food needs of all people, failing to respect the principles of environmental sustainability, and it undermines local empowerment and agrarian citizenship. Around the world, people are resisting the environmental, social and political destruction perpetuated by the industrial agricultural system. This resistance has led to a new and radical agricultural practice - food sovereignty - which puts control in the hands of those who are both hungry and produce the world's food - peasants and family farmers - rather than corporate executives. Advocating a practical, radical change to the way much of our food system operates the contributors, including Raj Patel, Walden Bello, Philip McMichael, Miguel Altieri and Eric Holt-Gimenez, show through analysis and case studies that food sovereignty results in increased production, safe food that reaches those who are in the most need and agricultural practices that respect the earth. This is the means to achieving the UN-endorsed goal of food security.

Genres: Food, Nonfiction

212 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2010

Reviews

[Amber Heckelman]

Incredibly insightful. A must read for anyone interested or engaged in alternative food movements. Non researchers, non activists, etc (i.e. consumers), however, will not find directions on how to support/participate in the food sovereignty movement here. You will have to look elsewhere for such insights. In spite of this, the book makes a valuable contribution to efforts being made to better understand and contextualize alternative narratives to achieving food security that are centred on sustainability, equity, and "agrarian citizenship".