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Towards Nyéléni III: Women, Oceans and Food Sovereignty

Submitted by Veronica Villa on

On the occasion of International Women’s Day, on 8 March, ETC wants to celebrate a significant event we were invited to in Kerala last year.
Indian fisherwoman with banner

The Indian Fisherwomen Assembly took place in Thiruvananthapuram 5-6 November. It was the culmination of a series of workshops organised by the National Fishworkers Forum (NFF), along with other fisher people's unions, in an effort to implement the 2017 World Forum of Fisher Peoples’ (WFFP) General Assembly’s decision to have more women’s representation in fishworkers’ unions. 

Behind Sugar and Spice and Everything Nice

Submitted by Ronnie Hall on

The Environmental Impacts of Digitalization
Report cover for Behind Sugar and Spice report

The UN is currently hosting a process towards the Summit of the Future (SOTF), scheduled for September 2024, in a bid to promote “multilateral solutions for a better tomorrow”, including through a technology track leading to a Global Digital Compact. 

Related Issues: 
Other technologies
Related Fora: 
Food and Agriculture: FAO, CGIAR, CFS

Trojan Horses on the Farm

Submitted by Ronnie Hall on

Challenging the digitalization of agriculture: six key questions
Artist's impression of a digital Trojan horse on the farm

ETC’s new research shows that digitalization is progressively entering farms, big and small, now in areas of the Global South as well as in the Global North. It comes disguised as an alluring high tech input, a Trojan farmhorse, with fleets of drones, smart ‘data-driven’ tractors, fancy apps and sensors. But in the belly of the beast lies the huge agribusiness corporate sector which has joined forces with the Big Data giants to strengthen its grip over our food systems.

Related Issues: 
Farmers' Rights & Food Sovereignty
Related Fora: 
Food and Agriculture: FAO, CGIAR, CFS

Disruptive digital food and ag techs invading indigenous territories in India

Submitted by Ronnie Hall on

Episode 3 of 'Who will control the food system?'
Food Barons report cover art showing peasants resisting corporate digital giants
Audio: 

Tune into the next episode in our latest podcast mini-series, Who Will Control the Food System, where we uncover just who's pulling the strings of industrial agriculture, dissect the latest corporate strategies, and take inspiration from the peoples and movements fighting back.

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In East Godavari district, Andhra Pradesh, India, an Adivasi farmer gave his personal data and information, including his telephone number, to a representative of the Indian government. In India, “adivasi” is a collective term used to refer to indigenous people.

The “Immaculate Conception of Data” – and why it’s a problem

Submitted by Ronnie Hall on

Episode 2 of 'Who will control the food system?'
Food Barons report cover art showing peasants resisting corporate digital giants
Audio: 

Tune into the next episode in our latest podcast mini-series, Who Will Control the Food System, where we uncover just who's pulling the strings of industrial agriculture, dissect the latest corporate strategies, and take inspiration from the peoples and movements fighting back.

Cashing in on the Climate Crisis through Agricultural Digitalisation

Submitted by Ronnie Hall on

Emerging Cases in Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines
Digital agriculture and climate financialisation illustration

Our new report explores how the climate crisis is being turned into an investment opportunity for financial actors, and how agricultural digitalisation is facilitating the commodification of climate into assets that can be traded. It highlights cases from Malaysia, Indonesia and Philippines.

Related Issues: 
Seeds & Genetic Diversity
Farmers' Rights & Food Sovereignty
Biodiversity & Cultural Diversity
Related Fora: 
Food and Agriculture: FAO, CGIAR, CFS

'Tech Won't Save Us' podcast with ETC Group

Submitted by Ronnie Hall on

The potential consequences of the digitalization of agriculture
Tech Won't Save Us podcast cover with photo of Jim Thomas
As COP-15 of the Convention on Biological Diversity approaches (it's scheduled for December 2022, in Montreal, Canada) it becomes ever more essential to understand why horizon-scanning, technology assessment and the monitoring of new technologies must be included in the new Global Biodiversity Framework. Digitalization of the food system is a good example of why this is so important.
 

Amidst rising hunger, new report shows corporate concentration in agrifood industry threatens an already vulnerable food system.

Submitted by Laura Dunn on

Food Barons 2022, names and ranks the largest food corporations dominating each link of the 8-10 trillion dollar commercial industrial food chain.
Table showing Top 4 companies re profits in agrocommodities sector

New report online at: https://etcgroup.org/content/food-barons-2022

Food Barons 2022

Submitted by Rafael Ramos on

Crisis Profiteering, Digitalization and Shifting Power
Food Barons 2022 report - cover art
Related Issues: 
Seeds & Genetic Diversity
Farmers' Rights & Food Sovereignty
Corporate Concentration
Related Fora: 
Biodiversity: CBD, SBSTTA, IPBES
Seed Treaty/ITPGRFA
Food and Agriculture: FAO, CGIAR, CFS

Backgrounder: Small Scale Farmers and Peasants Still Feed the World

Submitted by Laura Dunn on

Explaining competing claims of 70% vs. 30% and why it matters
The cover of the backgrounder report

A debate has emerged as to what proportion of the global food supply is produced by small-scale food producers - one that may have big implications for policy-making addressing hunger. Civil society organisations and peasant movements have estimated that around 70% of the world is fed by small-scale farmers and other peasants. However, two recent academic papers are claiming that small farm producers really only feed about one third of the world’s population.

Fancy a technofix mess for dinner?

Submitted by Ronnie Hall on

Why we boycotted the UN Food Systems Summit
A screenshot of ETC's blacked out home page

In solidarity with all the peasant farmers, small-scale food producers, Indigenous Peoples, NGOs, agricultural workers, family farmers and researchers who boycotted the Food System Summit we blacked out our website for the duration of the Food System Summit (FSS).

The rejection of the Food System Summit (FSS) by so many people, activists, organisations and movements around the world shows that the defence of food sovereignty remains strong.

Join ETC Group at the People’s Counter-Mobilization to Transform Corporate Food Systems

Submitted by Laura Dunn on

To oppose the corporate hijacking of the Food Systems Summit, the people’s counter-mobilization offers an opportunity for civil society to connect their struggles and fight together for a better world based on mutual respect, social justice, equity, solidarity and harmony with Mother Earth.

Hijacking food systems: technofix takeover at the FSS

Submitted by Laura Dunn on

The wrong kind of Food Systems Summit
Communique cover showing artist's interpretation of digital agriculture

Our latest communiqué looks at how the Food Systems Summit (FSS) planned for the fall of 2021 is not about changing food systems, but about spinning a story that props up and expands the industrial food chain at the expense of other food systems. The FSS’s proponents argue that the “food system” is broken, that population growth and climate change mean that we will not be able to feed everyone, and that only new technological developments can save us.

Related Issues: 
Farmers' Rights & Food Sovereignty
International Governance
Corporate Concentration
Related Fora: 
Food and Agriculture: FAO, CGIAR, CFS

A Long Food Movement: Transforming Food Systems by 2045

Submitted by Ronnie Hall on

We map out two very different futures for food systems, people and the planet
Envisaging rice farming in 2045 under two very different food systems

First, what do the next 25 years have in store with “agribusiness-as-usual”? The keys of the food system are handed over to data platforms, private equity firms, and e-commerce giants, putting the food security of billions at the mercy of high-risk, AI-controlled farming systems, and accelerating environmental breakdown. But what if the initiative is reclaimed by civil society and social movements?

Related Issues: 
Seeds & Genetic Diversity
Farmers' Rights & Food Sovereignty
Biodiversity & Cultural Diversity
Related Fora: 
Food and Agriculture: FAO, CGIAR, CFS

Video/podcast #3: Which new normal?

Submitted by Dru Oja Jay on

ETC Group on COVID, data giants, the food system and community responses
Those backing risky new technologies are seeing growing profits and power during the COVID-19 crisis. From fast-tracking genomic testing and novel vaccines to automation of ‘people-free’ supply chains, the pandemic is benefitting Big Tech.
 
From the rise of Zoom and Netflix to enhanced data-surveillance of populations, Silicon Valley and its financial backers  are not only shaping how the crisis is lived, but are positioning themselves to shape behaviours and write the rules in a post-crisis new order.
 

ETC Podcast #2: The Next Agribusiness Takeover

Submitted by Dru Oja Jay on

Pat Mooney talks global corporate power moves

In episode #2 of the ETC Podcast (recorded in January), founder Pat Mooney discusses ETC's communiqué, The Next Agribusiness Takeover: Multilateral Food Agencies and the moves powerful corporate actors are making to take over global food policy institutions.

You can now subscribe to the ETC Podcast on Spotify and Google Play. 

Statement to the Extraordinary Meeting of G20 Agriculture Ministers, April 21, 2020

Submitted by Veronica Villa on

By international CSOs

 

 

As the COVID-19 health emergency unleashes a wider social and economic crisis, we believe that urgent action is indeed needed to safeguard global food security and nutrition. Action, however, cannot be limited to ensuring the flow of food supplies. A broader range of measures are necessary to ensure food security, in the COVID-19 crisis and beyond.

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