Australian Food Sovereignty Alliance

Fair food for all Australians

Civil Society Calls for Agroecology not GMOs at FAO Meeting in KL

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Following is the final statement made by civil society organisations at the recent FAO meeting in Kuala Lumpur:

FAO Regional Conference on Agricultural Biotechnologies in Sustainable Food Systems and Nutrition in Asia-Pacific

13 September 2017

Civil Society Statement

 If we see biotech as part of a small farmer's 'toolbox', then we must ask what it is we are 'fixing':

  • Ensuring resilience in the face of climate change
  • Ensuring smallholders’ livelihoods are maintained & promoted
  • Ensuring everyone has access to nutritious and culturally-appropriate food produced in ethical and ecologically sound ways, and their right to democratically determine their own food and agriculture systems.

The focus of our discussion here was proposed to be on “sustainable” “food systems” for “small farmers” not “high yield” to generate “more money” from “small pieces of land.” And yet the meeting has presented many solutions that are still in the lab, and products with very initial results. The current supply of food already exceeds demand but there are serious issues around good governance and equitable distribution of food. Merely securing a high yield of a few select crops does not solve the problem of hunger nor secure livelihoods for smallholders, and leads to high levels of post-harvest spoilage and food waste.

There has been a lot of discussion about what we mean by biotechnology, and yet the majority of the focus of the conference has been on GMO products. It is malicious and deceptive to refer to GM crops as "biotech crops".

Those technologies that manipulate DNA artificially increase corporate control over seeds, diminish rich, diverse diets of local communities, promote monoculture, increase biosafety risks to health and environment, and need high investment and complicated regulatory frameworks which many countries lack. We ask those from the private sector who are calling for international acceptance of their products once approved in one country whether they are prepared to accept global liability for their products once disseminated?

We’d like to remind the group that 80% of the world’s food is produced by small farmers and farmer autonomy is critical to maintaining current and future food security and food sovereignty for everyone. We reject solutions that increase the cost of production for farmers due to the high cost of inputs from transnational corporations. We respect farmers as true in-situ innovators and not as passive consumers of the ‘biotech toolbox’.

All present should keep in mind the FAO Policy on Indigenous and Tribal Peoples which includes Indigenous rights to:

  • Self-determination;
  • Free, Prior and Informed Consent;
  • Participation and collaboration;
  • Rights over land and other resources; and
  • Gender equality.

Governments and scientists must take a holistic view of addressing the negative consequences of industrialised agriculture and avoid a ‘bandaids on cancer’ approach when it is imperative to address the causes.

Rather than being distracted by the shiny technocratic solutions of the GMO industry, FAO should continue its important work on promoting farmers’ access to native and locally adapted seeds and breeds, markets and value chains, and on promoting agroecology as the best way to feed the world and face the challenges of climate change.

 

Australian Food Sovereignty Alliance

La Via Campesina

FIMARC

Mouvement International de la Jeunesse Agricola et Rural Catholique (MIJARC)

Pesticide Action Network Asia Pacific (PANAP)

Action Group on Erosion, Technology and Concentration (ETC Group)

Assembly of the Poor, Thailand

Thai Poor Act (TPA)

Alliance for Sustainable and Holistic Agriculture (ASHA)

SEACON

 

 

 

Baw Baw Food Security Coalition

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"Food security is an individual or community’s ability to access healthy, affordable and appropriate food.  Food insecurity can therefore be defined as having limited or irregular access to safe and secure nutritional food from a non-emergency source.

Food insecurity has been prioritised in the Central West Gippsland region in 2007. Subsequently, research and food system mapping was undertaken, which showed that the individuals found to be most affected by food insecurity in Central West Gippsland include the people on low incomes, older people, young people and people living in isolated areas.  The result of this research was a Food Security Recommendation Report which was published in 2012 and provided guidance on the types of interventions that the CWGPCP and its partners could implement in order to tackle food insecurity.  The Baw Baw Food Security Coalition was then developed to lead this work in the Baw Baw Shire."

Read more about the history and impact of the Baw Baw Food Security Coalition.

MEDIA RELEASE: Farmers, Butchers, Chefs Call for People to Eat Less Meat

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In an Australian first, livestock farmers, butchers, chefs and supporters gathered to work out how to get people to eat less meat. Their focus was on shifting demand away from unsustainable industrially and intensively-produced meat with all its ecological and social costs, to meat from high welfare pastured production systems that nourish land, animals, and people.

Australia’s first Slow Meat Symposium, held in the central highlands of Victoria, came to an optimistic and encouraging close on Tuesday 5 September with the creation of a decisive action plan. The Symposium was a collaboration between Slow Food Central Highlands and the Australian Food Sovereignty Alliance (AFSA) and held in Daylesford on 3-5 September 2017.

An action plan was created through contributions from the more than 80 farmers, chefs, butchers, and supporters who attended from across Australia. It includes:

  • the creation of a platform to enable the diversion of thousands of tonnes of food waste from landfill to farmers seeking alternative feed streams for livestock, and
  • collaborations with others in the meat industry and animal welfare organisations to strengthen the movement to put slow meat ahead of industrial meat in butcher’s shops, menus, and households across Australia.

AFSA President and small-scale pastured pig and cattle farmer Tammi Jonas said, “Slow meat is not just better for our environment and the welfare of our animals, it offers a far more delicious future. Health and ethics are increasingly important to people and this is driving a shift away from industrially-produced meat. The Slow Meat Symposium saw some of our best producers, chefs, butchers, and allies gather to identify ways we can keep growing the slow meat movement so that more Australians can enjoy the benefits of eating better meat, and eating meat less often for the benefit of everyone and everything on the planet.” 

Day One included a farm tour, butchery and cooking demos, and a slow feast at Jonai Farms & Meatsmiths before the group of 50 were bussed over to Milking Yard Farm. At Milking Yard, owners Bruce and Roz Burton grow heritage-based ‘Sommerlad’ chickens. Through a striking comparison with an industrially-produced and processed chicken found in a typical supermarket Bruce easily demonstrated the superior meat quality obtained.

Day One concluded at Belvedere Social in Daylesford, featuring a producer-driven menu built around ethical meats, and family farms. Guests dined firstly on a Spent Hen Soup, which consisted of a rolled pastured chicken medallion served in a spent hen consommé, prepared using a zero-waste approach.

On Day Two, an industry-focussed group of more than 80 butchers, chefs, producers and supporters of the Slow Meat philosophy from around Australia gathered in the Daylesford Town Hall to address the key issues around increasing production and consumption of slow meat, while decreasing consumption of meat overall. In his role as MC, Paul West, presenter of River Cottage Australia, guided the audience around the ethics and impact of the production, processing and cooking of meat, asking participants to consider what a ‘slow meat future’ might look like and how to practically implement it.

Stimulating plenary speakers included butcher Grant Hilliard from Sydney’s Feather & Bone and chef Matt Wilkinson of Pope Joan in Melbourne. Wilkinson raised the "crucial need to bridge the divide between chefs and consumers, and farmers and chefs."

A range of delicious dishes were created for an educational slow meat lunch through the innovative pairing of local chefs and producers.

Concluding Day Two, Matthew Evans, host of SBS’s Gourmet Farmer and For the Love of Meat, presented his vision for a slow meat future, stressing the value of ecological resilience over consistency. Speaking to this he said, "We expect something that nature cannot give us. Every day the meat is seasonal. Yes, we have ethics and support, but inconsistency gives the possibility for greatness."

Day Three was offered for the many farmers across Australia keen to see a revival of regional abattoirs in the face of steadily declining access to processing for small-scale, pastured livestock farms. Led by international guest Amanda Carter, owner of Cool Hand Meats, and operator of North Carolina leading small-scale poultry abattoir Foothills Pilot Plant the group of nearly 30 canvassed the viability of small-scale abattoirs, alternatives to large abattoirs (especially in response to sudden instability such as abattoir closure), better networks between producers and abattoirs, price stability, and access and transport to and from abattoirs.

Tammi Jonas, who is working with others in her region on the idea of establishing a long-term, all species abattoir in Daylesford (with the support of the Federal Government’s Farming Together program), visited the US in July this year on an abattoir tour visiting eight American small-scale abattoirs.

Jonas found that there are three key factors to prove a viable small-scale abattoir model: 1) red meats are more viable than poultry and so including them in an all-species facility increases the likelihood of success; and 2) slaughter is a break-even business at best and the inclusion of further processing facilities is critical to support both the business model and the needs of the small-scale farmers seeking holistic processing solutions. Further she found that "Australia is in a unique position to better the working conditions and diverse opportunities across the agricultural supply chain for workers."

Contact:        Tammi Jonas - President, Australian Food Sovereignty Alliance        0422 429 362

Gary Thomas – Leader, Slow Food Central Highlands           0448 483 616

Australian Food Sovereignty Alliance attends global food sovereignty forum in India

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AFSA’s engagement in the international food sovereignty movement has been strengthened with attendance at the General Meeting of the International Planning Committee (IPC) for Food Sovereignty in Gujarat, India from 30 August to 3 September.

“This meeting underlines our responsibility, as the lead food sovereignty alliance in our country and the region, to hold our government to account both at the national level and in global governance forums”, said AFSA President Tammi Jonas, who attended the meeting with Secretary Nick Rose.

“This is a key way in which we can demonstrate and enact our solidarity with our small-scale producer comrades everywhere, but especially from the global south.”

The IPC is an autonomous and self-organised global platform of small-scale food producers and rural workers movements actively advance the Food Sovereignty agenda at the global and regional level.

Facilitating the engagement of civil society in the reformed Committee on World Food Security (CFS) within the Food & Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the UN, the IPC has great capacity to influence policy.

In Gujarat Tammi and Nick met with leading farmer, indigenous, women and fisherfolk organisations from Latin America, Africa, Europe and Asia in 40C heat over four days to discuss the progress of negotiations on global food security at the FAO.

The relevance of the engagement with the FAO to Australia is particularly clear in the three areas of agroecology, livestock and access to markets. AFSA has nominated members to join the IPC working groups in each of these areas.

Imogen Ebsworth already represents Australasia as a delegate for the Civil Society Mechanism within the CFS.

AFSA’s involvement in the IPC meeting is the latest step in establishing close personal and working relationships with leaders of the global food sovereignty movement, women’s movement, and indigenous people’s movements.

“It confirms that we are on our way to becoming a member organisation of La Via Campesina, a strategic goal that pre-dated the formation of AFSA.”, said Tammi

Significant for AFSA’s role in the region is the development of ties with farmer movements in India and Asia, and direct integration into the regional structure of the IPC and the FAO.

These outcomes will provide opportunities for significant capacity building, through AFSA representation at regional agroecology forums and regional meetings of the IPC and the FAO.

President’s Report 2015

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It’s been an exhilarating and challenging year as President of AFSA as I’ve worked with an amazing team of committed fair food activists to further the interests of food sovereignty in Australia.

Part of the focus for the five-year-old Alliance this year has been to improve our internal operations with clearer processes for decision making and communications, and better financial management. I am delighted to be finishing the year with a surplus and a healthy bank account, largely thanks to the fundraising made possible by the Fair Food documentary screenings, DVD sales, and generous support from the City of Melbourne. As at the end of the 2014-15 financial year, the doco had profited AFSA $6,679.

Both the Fair Food doco and anthology edited by AFSA Secretary Nick Rose have greatly helped spread the word of the good work happening across the country as producers, chefs, connectors, knowledge workers, local governments, and activists build a new, fairer food system for all.

We have hopes of crowdfunding a second documentary focusing on the plight of farm and food workers in Australia, and how these systems of exploitation prop up the duopoly and concentration of power here and globally. Watch this space. ;-)

The year has seen AFSA leading the fight for fair and consistent regulation of the food system, with participation at the Regrarians-led #EatBuyGrow rally a highlight. Speaking alongside lunatic farmer Joel Salatin on the many ways in which ‘folks, this ain’t normal’ and the need to contest the orthodoxy of industrial food was both an honour and a great opportunity to amplify the message locally.

We’ve worked to spread the word of the plight of dairy farmers in Victoria affected by the Government’s hasty decision to make it more difficult to sell raw milk, as well as the difficulties faced by livestock producers in processing and distributing their produce, especially in Victoria, where we’ve helped trigger a review of the meat regulator PrimeSafe (yet to report). I visited the Executive Director of the America Farm to Consumer Legal Defense Fund in Kentucky to learn how we might build such a fund here, and work is well advanced towards the establishment of a legal defence branch of AFSA.

I’ve already recounted the #epicfairfoodtour I made of the US in June, where AFSA’s food sovereignty relationships and networks were further developed with some of the most popular voices in the movement, including Joel Salatin, Temple Grandin, Dan Barber, and Michael Pollan.

Back home, I was delighted to host the inaugural Deep Winter Agrarian Gathering (conceived by fabulous farmer Fraser of Old Mill Bio Farm in NSW) in August with the able assistance of local Sarah Chignell. Two days of discussing the issues and opportunities in production, connection, regulation, and regeneration of the food system were heralded by fair food pioneer Costa Georgiadis as ‘the Woodstock of Australian agriculture’.

We recounted and plotted, feasted and posited, and frankly talked fair food ‘til the cows came home.

The high proportion of young farmers and future farmers attending was especially encouraging – just goes to show how much more appealing fair food farming is than industrial agriculture! I’m already looking forward to the next one (perhaps somewhere a tad warmer…)

In the first week of September I had the honour and privilege to attend the International Planning Committee for Food Sovereignty (IPC) meeting in Gujarat, along with my comrade Nick Rose. You can read our separate report on the outcomes of the meeting here. In short, the meeting clarified the need for AFSA to stand up to our own government in solidarity with our comrades in the Global South, to protect them as well as our own producers from the ravages of free-trade agreements that benefit nobody except large, transnational agribusiness.

The impact of cheap imports is devastating for farmers everywhere – from fruit growers in Victoria to small-scale beef producers in Kenya.

Our involvement with the IPC has also connected us to the ongoing dialogue with the Food & Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the UN, where we can add our voice to the global movement for agroecology and the fight against industrial livestock production, amongst the many other issues.

In spite of the continued centralized control of our food system, especially by the duopoly Coles & Woolworths, and in spite of the burdens and unfairnesses of regulation for small-scale, transparent food production, and even in spite of the ongoing exploitation of the labour of farm and food workers across Australia, I feel hopeful.

I feel hopeful because more people are choosing to buy directly from farmers and leave the duopoly out of their shopping bag. I feel hopeful because we’ve got the regulators’ attention, and reform seems possible. I feel hopeful because of the work of Four Corners to expose the treatment of farm workers and the tireless work of the NUW to support workers everywhere.

I feel hopeful because I’m a tragic optimist who takes every tiny grain of hope and plants it deeply in the rich soil of this fecund movement.

I am especially grateful for the work and support of Secretary Nick Rose, Communications Officer Alana Mann, Memberships Officer Michele Lally and our wonderful intern Katarina Munksgaard, who have contributed tirelessly all year. Thank you also to Vice President Jeff Pow, Treasurer Nadine Ponomarenko, and Louise Abson for your contributions, and finally thank you to the members who resigned earlier in the year due to challenging circumstances, Clare Richards and Michael Croft. And of course thank you to long-term volunteers and co-founders of AFSA Russ Grayson and Fiona Campbell for your many years of work to build and support the movement through the website and AFSA communications with members.

So long as we all continue working together, we’ve got this. Here’s to another great year for the fair food movement!

Viva la revolucion!

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