Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
Of course, the US and Europe are key actors here, and results are related to the
oft-ignored importance of the Farm Bill and trade negotiations often inaccessible to
public oversight. Make no mistake: heap and less nutritious food is proitable. Al-
though the idea of a nanny state as iron hef seting the menu reeks of totalitarian-
ism, policies directed at ensuring access to more nutritious food would seem to be
in the best interest of states, companies and individuals. A multi-pronged effort to
ensure nutritious food access would involve regulation of food production; a re-eval-
uation of national and international food policies that favour production for produc-
tions' sake. Food is not a car. Food is different and we need to talk about it differently.
We need to reorganize transportation systems and zoning to ensure accessibility to
stores, farms, and food. Any solutions to issues of global food security will require
a political will that, at present, only seems capable of coalescing around war (see
Brown, Plan B 4.0, 2010). But, just like climate hange, food security demands cre-
ative solutions operating at multiple levels. There are, unarguably, ways to provide
options. And for those of us with a hoice, these involve working in our own small
ways, while working collectively in big ways. Sometimes that is all we can do - even
if it never feels enough.
Note
1.
here is also the dihotomy of corporate biofuel, whih McMihael calls agrofuel, versus the
open-source, veggie oil 'movement', whih utilizes recycled vegetable oil from restaurant fry-
ers (see Carlsson, 2008; Lawrence, Lyons and Wallington, 2010).
References
Avery, D. (1999) 'The Fallacy of Organic Utopia', in J. Morris and R. Bate. (eds)
Fearing Food:
Risk, Health, and Environment
, Buterworth-Heinemann, Boston
Born, B. and Purcell, M. (2006) 'Avoiding the Local Trap: Scale and Food Systems in Planning
Researh',
Journal of Planning Education and Research
, vol
26
, pp195-207
Brown, L.R. (2010)
Plan B 4.0: Mobilising to Save Civilization
, W. W. Norton and Company,
New York
Carlsson, C. (2008)
Nowtopia
, AK Press, Edinburgh, Scotland
Carolan, M. (2011)
The Real Cost of Cheap Food
, Earthscan, London
Clapp, J. (2004) WTO Agricultural Trade Batles and Food Aid,
Third World Quarterly
vol
25
,
no 8, pp1439-1452
