Fwd: Call to Action on food crisis presented to Obama
>For immediate release
>December 15, 2008
>Contact: Christina Schiavoni, (212) 629-9788,
>Christina@whyhunger.org
>Kathy Ozer, (202) 543-5675, kozer@nffc.net
>
>
>President-elect Obama presented with urgent “Call to Action”
>to end food crisis
>Experts advise that economic reform must include sound farm and food
>policy
>
>As food banks scramble to respond to a dramatic increase in demand this
>holiday season, while unemployment surges and farmers face plummeting
>crop prices, a broad sector of groups are calling on the incoming Obama
>administration to put hunger and the global food crisis front and center
>on its list of top priorities.
>
>In today’s open letter to President-elect Obama, faith-based,
>environmental, agricultural, and hunger organizations outlined a “Call
>to Action on the World Food Crisis,” that includes specific
>recommendations for policy shifts and U.S. global leadership. The
>authors of the Call to Action call themselves the “US Working Group on
>the Food Crisis.”
>
>”The global food crisis ceded headlines to the financial crisis this
>fall,” noted Bill Ayres, Executive Director of World Hunger Year. “But
>the problem has not gone away. In fact, the fragile economy in the U.S.
>and around the world has only made hunger more widespread.”
>
>According to a recent report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture,
>which tracks U.S. food insecurity, 36.2 million people, including 12.4
>million children, were food insecure in 2007, even before the economic
>recession. The most recent global figures from the Food & Agriculture
>Organization estimate 963 million hungry people, a situation that the
>Working Group calls “morally reprehensible” and a potential driver of
>political unrest and instability.
>
>As a candidate, President-elect Obama pledged to end childhood hunger in
>the U.S. by 2015, and publicly recognized the deep flaws in the current
>global food system and the need for reform. “We want to give him some
>tools to reach these goals,” continued Ayres. “Addressing the food
>crisis well is not only more urgent in light of the economic downtown -
>it can be an important part of the solution.”
>
>The working group lays out specific recommendations for national
>policies that would:
>
>* Stabilize and guarantee fair prices for farmers and consumers
>globally;
>* Rebalance power in the food system;
>* Make agriculture environmentally sustainable;
>* Respect, protect and fulfill human rights of farmworkers and other
>food system workers; and
>* Guarantee the right to food.
>
>In promoting these solutions, the Working Group points to recent
>findings by international experts under the UN-sponsored International
>Assessment of Agricultural Knowledge, Science and Technology for
>Development (IAASTD). The IAASTD results, which were accepted and
>approved by 58 governments around the world (but not fully by the U.S.),
>emphasize the importance of supporting multifunctional, small-scale
>agricultural production to effectively address both hunger and
>environmental sustainability in the long term.
>
>”We are at a critical crossroads in rethinking the structure of our food
>and farming systems worldwide,” says Dr. Marcia Ishii-Eiteman, Senior
>Scientist for Pesticide Action Network and one of the authors of the
>IAASTD report. “We believe President-elect Obama can and must play a key
>role in moving us toward a future where sustainable agriculture supports
>vibrant rural communities, respects the dignity of workers, and delivers
>safe and healthy food for all.”
>
>”NAFTA, the WTO and other free trade agreements have pushed countries to
>become too dependent on highly speculative and volatile global markets
>for their food security,” said Ben Burkett, Mississippi farmer and
>President of the National Family Farm Coalition. “We need to reorient
>our farm policy away from a primary focus on exports and corporate
>profits and toward support for family farmers and food
>self-sufficiency.”
>
>Dennis Olson from the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy added,
>”There is now a global consensus that agricultural trade deregulation
>has played a large role in the food crisis. With regard to trade, we
>need to stop treating food like TV sets. Countries need the policy
>flexibility to stabilize agriculture markets and support their own
>production of healthy food - and that includes the U.S.”
>
>For more information:
>Letter to President-elect Obama:
>http://www.usfoodcrisisgroup.org/files/Open%20Letter%20to%20President-el
>ect%2012-15-08.doc
>US Working Group on the World Food Crisis and Call to Action:
>http://www.usfoodcrisisgroup.org/
>
>
>Available for interviews:
>* Kathy Ozer, Executive Director, National Family Farm Coalition,
>202-543-5675; kozer@nffc.net
>* Bill Ayres, Executive Director, WHY (World Hunger Year),
>212-629-6259; bill@whyhunger.org
>* Marcia Ishii-Eiteman, PhD, Senior Scientist, Pesticide Action
>Network North America (PANNA), 415-981-6205 x325;
>mie@panna.org
>* Dennis Olson, Senior Policy Analyst, Trade & Global Governance
>Program, Institute for Agriculture & Trade Policy, 612-870-3412;
>dolson@iatp.org
This message originated from or was forwarded by:
Chrys Ostrander
Chrysalis Farm @ Tolstoy
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