AFSA Calls on African Governments to Embrace Agroecology

At the US Food Sovereignty Alliance Assembly earlier this month, CAGJ activists were inspired by stories of how agroecology is essential for a community to achieve food sovereignty. Jesus Vázquez of Organisation Boricua said, “Food Sovereignty without agroecology is just a slogan, agroecology without food sovereignty is just a science,” speaking of the interconnected nature […]

Juma and Monsanto

Earlier this month, the Boston Globe published a piece that discussed the connection between Harvard Kennedy School professor, Calestous Juma, and the agrichemical giant, Monsanto. In 2013, Juma, who was a former head of the Cartagena biosafety negotiations and is an outspoken supporter of the use of GMOs in international development, received emails from Monsanto, […]

“Seedy Business”

In a recent report titled “Seedy Business: What Big Food is hiding with its slick PR campaign on GMOs,” Gary Ruskin, Executive Director of the U.S Right to Know, an organization that works to expose the failures of the corporate food system, outlined 15 things that Big Food is trying to hide from the public. […]

PRESS RELEASE: Black US Farmers, Honduran Afro-Indigenous Share Food Sovereignty Prize

​FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Des Moines, Iowa, United States – September 1, 2015 Black US Farmers, Honduran Afro-Indigenous Share Food Sovereignty Prize In this moment when it is vital to assert that Black lives matter, the U.S. Food Sovereignty Alliance honors Black and Afro-Indigenous farmers, fishermen, and stewards of ancestral lands and water. We especially commemorate […]

USAID Lobbying for Agribusiness

Food Sovereignty Ghana, recently published a press release outlining its concerns with a recent action of USAID that will likely deceive citizens of the developing world. This organization of Ghanaian activists reveals that USAID’s workshop, “International Biosafety Short Course for Policy and Decision Makers in Ghana and Nigeria,” which was offered at the end of July, had […]

ACB to Challenge the South African Government and Monsanto over GM Maize

On August 7th the African Centre for Biodiversity (ACB) appealed to South African Agriculture, Water Affairs and Forestry Minister the decision to release Monsanto’s genetically modified maize for sale to farmers in South Africa. The particular variety of seed is supposed to drought tolerant, a claim that ACB disputes. According to ACB, the approval was […]

Report exposes how the food industry is paying to manipulate the media around food

Earlier this summer Friends of the Earth published a report titled “Spinning Food,” which details how the industrial food industry is working to manipulate public opinion and understanding about the food system, and is undermining public knowledge about the benefits of diversified and ecological food systems. The industrial food sector is spending millions of dollars […]

Opposing the G8 “New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition”

In March, a group of social movements, grassroots organizations, and civil society organizations met in Tunis to oppose the G8 “New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition.” The New Alliance, which was launched in 2012 by the G8 and has been implemented in ten African countries, is based on the simplistic and familiar idea that […]

“Profiting from the Climate Crisis”

Water Efficient Maize for Africa (WEMA) is a project financed by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, to the tune of US $85 million. The project attempts to increase production of maize in Sub Saharan Africa through the provision of drought resistant maize varieties. The program has two major components: a conventional hybrid maize breeding […]

FOEI: “who benefits from gm crops?”

In February, Friends of the Earth International (FOEI) released a report investigating the strategic efforts by the US government, its sponsored programs, funders such as the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and agribusiness giants such as Monsanto to force GM technologies on the African continent.  While these powerful players claim that GM technologies are key […]