Brexit gives the UK the chance to reform the system of agricultural subsidies that rewards wealthy landowners at the expense of taxpayers, the global south, the environment, and small scale sustainable farmers, writes Alex Scrivener. But strong, effective campaigning will be needed to bring about the changes we desperately need.
… the EU could actually be a positive thing for agriculture. Free from the shackles of the … DEFRA, the government department in charge of agriculture and the environment, could …
With Brexit the UK will have to chose between two visions of our farming future, writes Keith Tyrell. Will it be heavily subsidised corporate agribusiness that ravages both nature and small, high quality farmers. Or will we seize the chance to build a sustainable food and farming system that supports wildlife, landscape, family farms, organic production and diverse rural economies?
… Dark days ahead for British agriculture? Or green shoots of a brighter … presents a unique opportunity to shape UK agriculture for a generation to come. Formal … and switch to an even more intensive model of agriculture. The EU's pesticide regulation …
What's the point of farming? To produce an abundance of wholesome food, writes Colin Tudge, while supporting a flourishing rural economy and a sustainable, biodiverse countryside. Yet the powers that be, determined to advance industrial agriculture at all costs, are achieving the precise opposite. It's time for a revolution in our food and farming culture, led by the people at large.
… that be, determined to advance industrial agriculture at all costs, are achieving the … then we need all to re-think and re-design agriculture - what amount to an Agrarian … who do not fall by the wayside. The kind of agriculture that the oligarchs now advocate - …
The European Parliament has had a great week, writes Molly Scott Cato MEP - for those who oppose GMOs in food and farming. MEPs voted on five occasions to say no to GMOs, and gave their support to agroecology as the only sustainable way to feed the world.
… Bayer with Monsanto. As a member of both the Agriculture and Economics Committees in the … with a pesticide. The problems of industrial agriculture will not be solved through GMOs or … these systems, rather than pouring 67% of its agriculture research budget into biotechnology …
To understand how technology is used in the real world we must appreciate who owns and controls it, writes Colin Todhunter: whose interests it serves, and how it works in an economic system driven by profit, geopolitics and the compulsion to capture and control markets - while the monopolists proclaim a noble ideology of 'free choice' and 'democracy'.
… elite interests . In the area of food and agriculture, there has been a programmed … Knowledge Initiative on Agriculture and the associated US sanctioning … technology is integral to a model of food and agriculture controlled from laboratory to …
It's not that Dilma Rousseff, Brazil's ousted President, was wonderful for the environment, writes Ed Atkins. It's that Michel Temer's new regime is certain to be far worse. Plans are afoot to weaken environmental assessments for large projects like mines, roads and dams. And the new Minister of Agriculture is a notorious campaigner for hugely increased deforestation.
… roads and dams. And the new Minister of Agriculture is a notorious campaigner for … returned , large-scale mining and agriculture was expanded, and more dams were … Temer has recently appointed him Minister of Agriculture. Maggi is a prominent member of …
At a time when the Labour Party is discovering its egalitarian roots, inequality is as much of an issue in the countryside as in the city, states this 'Rural Manifesto' from the Land Workers Alliance and The Land. The neglect and exclusion of Britain's rural poor and landless farmers must end.
… go to UK farmers and fishermen. The UK's agriculture and fisheries industries generate …
A radical new Seed Law drafted by Venezuelan people, farmers and NGOs was signed into law in the closing days of 2015, write William Camacaro, Frederick B. Mills & Christina M. Schiavoni. Striking back against the corporate takeover of seeds and peddling of GMOs, the Seed Law bans transgenic seeds, protects the country's germplasm, and establishes the legal foundation for a participatory, agroecological food and farming system.
… the corporate interests of transnational big agriculture while promoting and protecting the … such is not only an object at hand for use in agriculture, but a subject that is entitled to … the transition to communal and eco-socialist agriculture, in order to protect …
The increasingly militant protests by dairy farmers against low prices forced on them by the corporate 'free market' represent serious and effective resistance against the 'free trade' agenda being forced on the world by neoliberal governments, writes David Miller. They are the first steps to building a new global food system that respects food, people, culture and environment.
… harsh, especially for workers in the global agriculture system. Recent struggles over … human rights. Since the 1995 WTO Agreement on Agriculture, there has been a concerted push to create a 'global agriculture' system and participating …
Britain's soils are in a bad way, writes John Quinton, and the government is doing little to help - indeed its policies are making the problems worse. So concludes yesterday's Environment Audit Committee report on soil health. But are ministers bothered?
… compliance in order to mitigate the impact of agriculture on soil health and incentivise … 25 year plans for the Environment and for Agriculture. There is great potential here for …
The 'Biotechnology Food Labeling Uniformity' bill has been introduced to the US Senate to require clear, simple labelling of GMOs nationwide - informing consumers while saving manufacturers from a confusing patchwork of state regulations. Could it defeat the dreaded DARK Act?
… DARK Act - a bill just approved by the Senate Agriculture Committee that would hide GM … said Merkley, the top Democrat on the Senate Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee. … member and former chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee, adding: "I believe that …
The leaked chapters of the EU-US TTIP 'free trade' deal reveal a shredding of health, environmental and other protections for consumers and citizens, writes Pete Dolack. It's a wet dream for corporate monopolists and profiteers, and the elite bureaucrats that serve them. But for civil society it represents an irreversible destruction of democracy itself.
… which, inter alia, covers regulations on agriculture, can easily be interpreted to … So much for democracy! There is also an agriculture chapter, which contains this … to facilitate the successful conclusion of agriculture negotiations in the WTO that …
The European Parliament just voted to re-authorise glyphosate, writes Peter Melchett - but with significant restrictions on its use. So what does the vote mean for the world's biggest selling herbicide? And how come the UK's National Farmers' Union welcomed the decision as an unqualified victory?
… chose to welcome the vote as " positive for agriculture " ? Maybe they were simply …
It has been an epic battle, writes Aisha Dodwell. Monsanto and other corporations are desperate to get the world's number one herbicide, glyphosate, relicenced in the EU. But their network of power has been challenged by doctors, scientists and a global movement of people. With today's postponement of the EU's decision, we have just scored a major victory.
… is among a handful of large companies in the agriculture industry who are increasingly … given a platform at the UN's Food and Agriculture body (FAO) and is involved in … important decisions regarding our food and agriculture needs to end if we want a food …
The government may want to press ahead with the English badger cull, writes Lesley Docksey. But after the Brexit vote it may just cost too much - for taxpayers and for the farmers who bear part an increasing share of the expense, now facing the loss of the 55% of their income that currently comes from Brussels.
Post-Brexit Britain cannot afford the badger cull! Lesley Docksey | 27th July 2016 Comment Badgers Farming Brexit Politics Natural World Finance badger-cut.jpg The government may want to press ahead …
Progressive green thinkers have been seduced by the EU, but now it's time for the Greens to seize the moment, reclaim their radical roots and take the lead on Brexit writes PAUL KINGSNORTH
… do they make up for the damage it has done to agriculture, to cultural distinctiveness, to … longer subject to the dictates of the Common Agriculture Policy or the Common Fisheries …
After two decades of neoliberalism, India's magnates and corporations are profiting as never before, writes Colin Todhunter. But the entire economic edifice is built on the dispossession of the poor, locked into debt servitude, and ever rising income inequality. Prime Minister Modi's latest move, 'demonetization', is yet another example of the state stealing from the poor to give to the obscenely rich.
… the opposite of the peoples' interest In agriculture, for instance, we are seeing the …
The European Commission is poised to renew the licence for glyphosate - the herbicide last year deemed ‘probably carcinogenic' by the WHO - for another 15 years. The decision follows from EFSA's contrary finding, based on secret, non peer-reviewed, industry-funded studies.
… proposal' Commenting on the proposal, Green agriculture and public health spokesperson …
Remember when the UK was the 'dirty man of Europe'? What has changed since then, writes Caroline Lucas, is our membership of the EU - which has made us raise our environmental performance on everything from fisheries to air pollution, nature conservation, clean bathing waters and renewable energy. Leave, and it could all go into reverse.
… thanks to EU directives. Not perfect on agriculture and fisheries - but it is getting …
A constitutional amendment that would allow 'strategic' public works including dams, roads, mines and other mega-projects to go ahead following the mere completion of an environmental impact assessment is being considered by a Committee of the Brazilian Senate, writes Helle Abelvik-Lawson.
… forward by Senator Blairo Maggi , the new agriculture minister in the newly appointed … environmentalists and those who take care of agriculture in the country" - referring …
As presidential contenders gather in Iowa for the beginning of the party selection season, they may have noticed a lot of wind turbines, writes Zachary Davies Boren. And if they have any sense, they will find only nice things to say about them. Wind supplies 30% of the state's power, more than any other US state, and Iowans are all for it. Ted Cruz, mind your words!
… a primarily agricultural state is important: "Agriculture and wind energy are very …
The global pesticide and bioscience giant Monsanto is a byword for evil for millions of campaigners and concerned citizens, writes JP Sottile. But that has never stopped it getting its way with the people that matter - politicians and regulators. And now the company is on the verge of biggest victory ever - winning clearance to spray biologically active RNA sequences on US crops.
… scientists assured the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) in 1993 that glyphosate …
Two key wildlife laws that underpin nature conservation across the EU will be retained intact, the EU Commission announced today after an 18 month review that generated record public engagement due to fears that they would be weakened. Now campaigners are determined to ensure the UK retains the laws post-Brexit.
… other EU policy areas such as energy, agriculture and fisheries ... the Commission … and a member of the European Parliament's Agriculture committee, added: "As the EU seeks …
It's now clear what place government ministers and senior officials want for the UK in a post-Brexit world, writes Mark Curtis - and it's not pretty! A new era of corporate 'free trade' colonialism looms, spearheaded by aid spending, with ramped-up arms exports to the world's most corrupt and repressive regimes, all backed up by military force to project the Britain's global financial interests.
… cheap imports undermining local industry and agriculture, putting fledgling companies out … of corporations in global and African agriculture through its extensive funding of …