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For immediate release
Glasgow, Tuesday 2 November 2021
“Biden’s ‘gift’ to COP26, AIM4C, is really part of designing future agriculture without farmers. While small farmers, fishers, pastoralists and urban growers feed the majority of the world’s population at the same time as cooling the planet, AIM4C’s website doesn’t even mention farmers at all.” said ETC Group’s Coordinator, Neth Daño [6]
“With AIM4C, Joe Biden, the UAE, the UK and others are putting a target on farmers’ backs with a view to replacing them with robots, data, gene-edited seeds and boosted tech profits for the Silicon Valley set” added Jim Thomas, ETC Group’s Research Director.
Neth Daño (in Philippines), Tel/Signal: +63 9175329369, E-mail: neth@etcgroup.org
Ronnie Hall (Sussex, UK, arriving Glasgow on Friday), Tel/Signal: +44 7967017281, Email: ronnie@etcgroup.org
[2] Accelerating Green Technology Innovation and Deployment, Heads of State presentations, COP26, Plenary Pen Y Fan, 2 November 2021.
[3] To find out more about digitalisation in agriculture read: “Hijacking Food Systems: technofix takeover at the FSS” by ETC Group.
[4] Today also sees the launch of a major new statement from civil society around the world, challenging the Net Zero concept. “Real Solutions, Not Net Zero” has so far been signed by over 700 civil society organisations around the world. Track #NetZeroIsNotZero for further developments during COP26.
[5] To find out more about AIM for Climate and the motivations of countries like the US and UAE read “As big oil states plan to promote energy-hungry agtech as a ‘climate solution’ at COP26, it’s time to question their aim” by ETC Group.
[6] On BBC’s Farming Today programme this morning (2 November) the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation’s Laura Burke claimed that agtech is the way out of climate change for smallholder farmers: in Africa, Asia, Latin America, Pacific, Europe, everywhere in fact (https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m00114j7 (starts at 09:45)). This seems to contradict the AIM for Climate website where we have so far failed to find the words ‘farmer’ or ‘farmers’ on any of its main website pages. Instead, the focus is squarely on raising investment in agricultural research and innovation.