Plus: 7 Steps Toward Food Sanity | Sojourners

Plus: 7 Steps Toward Food Sanity

Some of the steps toward creating sane food policies and a living democracy will include:

1. Reduce the influence of money in poli- tics. In the past decade, U.S. agribusiness spent almost $1 billion lobbying our government for policies that often undermine poor people’s capacity to feed themselves.

2. Press legislators to shift support to family-scale sustainable farmers in all aid and trade legislation.

3. End export subsidies that undercut small farmers abroad—agricultural subsidies in the industrial countries mainly help the biggest farmers and processors.

4. Make real the “right to food,” which is now inscribed in 22 national constitutions around the world.

5. End the agrofuel program—one-third of U.S. corn production will go to ethanol this year.

6. Re-establish national and global food reserves to buffer price swings.

7. Create policies that encourage cooper- atives and ensure fair wages, progressive taxes, and the right to organize unions.

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Sojourners Magazine July 2008
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