A Better Food System
This last weekend some fellow volunteers and I had the privllage of tabling at the Twin Cities Jazz Festival. The event was located at Mears Park, a quaint park in the heart of Downtown St.Paul. The music was great! There were amazing acts all weekend but the highlight was definitely The Bad Plus w/ Josh Redman on Saturday! Tabling, at an event for Action Corps means simply having conversations with a diverse mix of people. We do not sell products or do any fundraising, but we do ask people to show their support &/or join the movement to "Build a Better Food System". We provide pins, flyers, as well as petitions to get people thinking and acting upon the very real issues surrounding hunger around the world. Our booth always remains lively and fun, even though we talk about heavy issues, because the solutions we discuss are easy to understand, and it's exciting. People care about food, how it's grown and where it's coming from, in higher numbers recently and it makes discussing something as primal and basic, as food and water, easier than it sometimes can be. I love talking to people about food and water because it is something we can all relate on.
Our Food System is the way in which our food is developed, transported, distributed and sold. Oxfam's GROW campaign aims to build a better food system: one that will sustainably feed our growing population. The system we have is not working- one in seven people goes to be hungry every night! The worst part is that we have more than enough food in the world to feed everyone, but deep imbalances in access to resources, climate change, and government policies keep many trapped in poverty. These issues are much more prevalent in rual agriculturally based regions of the world, but even those who have abundant food access now,will be affected by the mass conflict and migrations that will be occurring in the near future if our current course is not changed. Food is a serious matter that is the leading cause of conflict and instability in countries around the world. With an outlook of Nine Billion people living on this planet by 2050 we all must ask ourselves, how will we ever feed ourselves, and our future generations? and without destroying our planet? We must take it upon ourselves to fuel this movement, we must grow!
So what went so horribly wrong in the first place?
Watch this short informative video - Food and You to learn more about the history and current state of our Food System.
Here's what needs to happen:
The power to fix this system does not rest solely on the billion-plus farmers who produce food or the billions of consumers who eat it. Instead, companies and governments who determine who eats and who doesn't.
We must support this movement which seeks to:
- Increase the productivity, self-reliance, and economic opportunity of small-scale farmers, especially women, who depend on agriculture for income and food.
- Increase farmers’ access to resources like water and land, and make sure they don’t have to unfairly compete with big companies for ownership of these resources.
- Increase farmers’ preparedness in the face of more-frequent and more-extreme droughts, floods, and storms.
- Modernize our food aid programs so they are more effective, efficient, and fiscally responsible, improving the global response to natural disasters and food crises.
- Hold governments and businesses accountable for the impacts of their policies and practices on global food security.
So, what can you do to support GROW?
Help create a GROWing movement for change. Sign-up and join the conversation about how to tackle some of the big problems at the heart of our global food system.
I will be posting a follow-up blog next week on more things you can do locally and in your individual life to help support the movement. Tips on how to reduce your carbon footprint, and how to buy, shop and produce food in a way that supports people and the planet.
