"Movements for Food Sovereignty: A People’s Solution to Corporate Control of Food Systems Worldwide" part of Rise Up! Summer School 2022: Future Paradigms
Throughout the month of August, we are going to be learning about philanthrocapitalism, and the ways in which institutions like the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation are trying to change agriculture in Africa and other parts of the world under the guise of making it "climate-smart." We will also learn about the grassroots response to this "corporate takeover" of agriculture, by looking at groups and movements promoting agroecology and food sovereignty.
Industrial agriculture contributes over a third of worldwide greenhouse gas emissions. As the world faces increased droughts, temperatures, and other risks caused by climate change, a transition to more sustainable practices is urgently needed. In response, philanthropic organizations like the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation are pressuring powerful institutions like the US Department of Agriculture, the World Bank, and other governments around the world that we should count on “climate-smart agriculture” as a model for climate change adaptation.
This model, which relies on artificial intelligence, robotics, drones, genetic engineering, and other digital technologies, is now being pushed through international governance forums. At the 2021 COP26 (global climate negotiations), US Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack announced the Aim for Climate (AIM4C) initiative, spearheaded by the US and United Arab Emirates. Funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, AIM4C would “accelerate investment in innovative, science-based solutions to increase food security and help agriculture and food systems mitigate and adapt to climate change.” But when we account for the climate impact of large data centers, the cost of rolling out "cutting-edge tech," concerns over data ownership, and the ways in which such initiatives undermine accessible agroecological solutions already in practice, we are forced to ask: Who benefits from the so-called “climate-smart” solutions being proposed—corporations, or farmers themselves?
Learning goals/objectives:
1) Understand why mainstream agricultural development programs often fail to address the root causes of inequality, hunger, and poverty around the world (including imperialism, capitalism, and corporate-dominated agriculture), and instead exacerbate these issues;
2) Distinguish between food security, as an approach that focuses on ensuring people’s access to food, and food sovereignty, as an approach that focuses on changing deeper power relations in food systems;
3) Learn about some of the on-the ground initiatives/projects to bolster agroecology around the world and how these contribute to building alternative economies, farms, and knowledge networks.
