Tag Archives: food sovereignty

Food sovereignty in the Shellfish Industry

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In regards to action projects, I participated in working with the Center for Food Safety (CFS) on creating a sustainable shellfish scorecard. The scorecard can be utilized by restaurant owners, chefs, and consumers who are demanding to be knowledgeable of which shellfish producers follow sustainable procedures. CFS is a national non-profit public interest and environmental advocacy organization working to protect human health and the environment by curbing the use of harmful food production technologies and by promoting organic and other forms of sustainable agriculture. CFS also educates consumers concerning the definition of organic food and products. Producing a scorecard to determine shellfish producer’s level of sustainability with the help of CFS will certainly be a meaningful contribution to the larger community because it will be functional to exclude shellfish producers that execute practices that degrade biodiversity and the environment it surrounds it. 

What I learned through working with the CFS is the idea of food sovereignty and how important it is for consumers to be knowledgeable about the process of how sustainable the food is being produced. Included in the scorecard, are criteria based on the feasibility and sustainability of shellfish producers in the shellfish industry. The criteria includes; pesticide use, transparency over regulations and environmental legislation, seeding and harvesting methods, and lastly, processing methods. This action project promotes people’s right to to healthy and culturally-appropriate food produced through ecologically sound and sustainable methods, and their right to define their own food and agriculture systems which are all tested through the criteria we have generated.

Another thing I wanted to bring up is our capability of getting involved in projects like this simply in our homes, and through our computers. I find it amazing how we integrated elements of collaboration, grasping and creating ideas, and completing tasks without ever seeing each other in person. As Karen said, we really are working and living in unprecedented times, and yet we continue to strive for greatness. We continue to do as much as we can to stay involved, despite limitations. Then, I realized that this is the type of vitality we need to make positive changes within the food system. We have to keep educating ourselves, and work together to amplify what the system lacks and the assistance it needs.

Sovereignty and Shellfish

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Food sovereignty is no simple thing in today’s food politics discourse. The modern American, whether they like it or not, is deeply embedded in a global food network. When we ask ourselves what it would mean to become food sovereign people, we must determine what self-sufficiency can and should mean within our community. As Raj Patel argues in his article “Food Sovereignty Grassroots Voices”, food sovereignty must account for the power politics of the food system. In working alongside the Center for Food Safety, a national nonprofit group that works to protect human and environmental health by advocating for sustainable practices and curbing harmful food technologies, I developed a scoring system to grade the sustainability of Washington’s shellfish operations.

Through this work and Patel’s point on power politics, I built an understanding of the simple fact that food sovereignty must begin with knowing where your food comes from. To know where your food comes from must mean to know more than its location, but to know the methods and labor that went into its creation and the impacts of this production on people and the ecosystem. My contribution to the development of the shellfish scorecard is both a contribution to the transparency of the industry as well as to the normalization of consumer-facing food transparency.

“Shellfish Aquaculture in Washington: Pesticides, Plastics, and Pollution Impacts to Our Environment” Center for Food Safety. October 24, 2019.

Food sovereignty discourse often revolves around food and farmers. While these are significant aspects of developing and defining a food sovereign community, this approach ignores the larger economic and political systems that encase our culture of food. This multidimensional image, which is explored in-depth in part eight of “Introduction: Critical Perspectives on Food Sovereignty”, must include a notion of sustainability and justice that addresses these larger systems. In defining food sovereignty with the consideration the multidimensionality and the inherent need for consumer facing transparency, the creation of and use of the shellfish scorecard begins to take on a larger weight.

As my group approached the scorecard, we carried the lessons of food sovereignty and systems thinking into our research process. We developed a scorecard that grades the sustainability of a shellfish operation on how the operation relates to Washington’s ecological feedback loops and the policy positions of the operation. This scorecard reflects values of food sovereignty and will aid consumers in their ability to support sustainable businesses.

Where is Freedom, Justice, and Sovereignty in America?

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During this quarter, I participated in an action project with the Community Alliance for Global Justice (CAGJ), a local non-profit who advocates for community-based movements that strengthen local economies, promote diversity and autonomy, and combat unjust trade and agricultural policies. For the project, we did email and phone outreach to ask for donations from local businesses for their annual SLEE (Strengthening Local Economies Everywhere) silent auction dinner event. We also researched extensively for the CAGJ’s new Fair Trade page on their website.

The most specific topics that stood out in the course material and connected to my action project were trade liberalization, racial justice, and food sovereignty. I was able to connect these subjects extensively with the course material through readings such as Freedom Farmers and my project research and discussion, ultimately deepening my understanding of the complex issues present in our global and local food systems.

Trade liberalization (and sometimes unfair, “Fair Trade”) in many ways, has led to the demise of developing nations and smaller local economies. While learning about how the CAGJ fights against many of the actions of the WTO, I was able to connect what I was learning about in class in terms of how the global system is currently shaped to benefit big business and big agriculture, leaving “the little guy” behind. 

In addition, the topics of food and racial justice, along with food sovereignty played into many aspects of my action project. We talked about Food Empowerment Education & Sustainability Team (FEEST), who works in South King County promoting, “healthy food access, racial justice, and youth empowerment to create food justice in low income communities of color and develop leadership for lasting change” (FEEST, pg 3). This stood out to me and made me think about how systemic racism contributes to inequitable health outcomes for POC, and currently, has contributed to increased cases of COVID-19 for the Black community who disproportionately work low paying jobs in the food industry, lack access to health care, and live disproportionately in food swamps.

While discussing racial inequity in the food system with the CAGJ and in class, it is important to consider the effects of systemic racism also in schooling, income, job access, opportunity, and health outcomes.

If there is one thing that I can walk away from this class with, it is the understanding that a nation is not truly free until its citizens stand in solidarity and fight for those who lack justice, equity, and freedom from oppression.

There is always more you can do.

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I chose to respond to Aaron Baker’s post “Is your Hunger Natural or Affluent?” (link: https://sites.uw.edu/pols385/2020/05/04/is-your-hunger-natural-or-affluent/). The question posed in his title is something I have been grappling with since I shifted to a plant-based diet due to unethical practices in the meat and dairy industry. I thought his response was very insightful, and I especially appreciated his statement “Just as hunger may be ubiquitous in the state of nature, it is equally possible for it to be absent entirely in a relatively affluent state in which the parameters of self-preservation have been redefined.” His thoughts made me consider how I drastically redefined my diet by only considering plant-based options as permissible for my self-preservation, despite there being ample other food options surrounding me. Thus, it seems as if I have redefined my “self” that I wish to preserve. My goal is not to simply keep myself alive, rather it is to maintain optimal nutrition, ethical consumption, and great taste.

Veganism News and Political Cartoons

From this, I drew a connection to “The Color of Food” (https://canvas.uw.edu/courses/1372505/files/63044076/download?wrap=1) article we read in class, which described the “good food movement” amongst privileged middle-class individuals who prefer to consume organic food. The article goes on to describe those economically excluded from this movement, who rely on food supplied through the enormous food production chain that exploits people of color and “often forces workers to live in conditions that are close to poverty.” So, when I search for vegan meals, my hunger isn’t natural, it is affluent. Recognizing how much of the world struggles with food sovereignty allows me to stave off complacency as in my fight for change in the food system. I recognize a vegan diet isn’t enough, and that holistic change that provides everyone equal access to good food as I do today is my ultimate goal.

Food Sovereignty - SourceWatch

Food Lines: A Response to “Hunger and the Hungry”

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Having had time to reflect on a post by wisdaub entitled “Hunger and the Hungry,” a thoughtful contemplation of spiritual fasting, hunger, and food system shocks amidst the coronavirus pandemic, I will try to extend the conversation using a systems thinking approach. If we put “food insecurity” in the center of a systems map, the maze of feedback loops is dizzying, even without considering the effects of the current pandemic on the food supply network. Factor in the pandemic crisis and the triple inequalities multiply as those already least prepared for catastrophe are hit with another wave of hardship. There is no single cause or solution to global hunger, and many causes have complicated relationships among themselves.

Food System Map                                                                                     Image Source: thebigraise.fr

Nobel laureate economist Amartya Sen, an expert in issues of famine, declares poverty and lack of democracy as primary drivers of hunger, and suggests increased trade, tariffs and democratization as solutions, and self-sufficiency as a less powerful solution other than in times of war. A different view from physicist and food sovereignty advocate Vandana Shiva sees globalization and lack of import regulations as some of the larger systems responsible for poverty and displacement in the first place. Both perspectives would be appropriate in a systems-thinking map – the 135 million currently facing food shortage are victims of systems that cause or perpetuate poverty.

Children wait in line for food                                                      Image Source: weforum.org

If food is a human right (which, of course it is), how can we prevent projected estimates that the number of hungry may double by the end of 2020? Part of the answer is that people can’t afford food, especially with the economic fallout from the pandemic. Another is that nations who rely on imports are feeling food supply shocks deep in their bellies without the resources to grow or secure food closer to home. Increasing food sovereignty can build nimble resilience as shock absorbers for current systems vulnerable to price fluctuation and supply bottlenecks.

Widaub’s post describes fasting as “a way in which we recognize our common human fragility.” This is both humbling and empowering. Humbling in that the fragilities within  the food system are wounds pulled wide open during Coronavirus. These wounds may heal not by applying bandages of food aid and imports alone, but by empowering the world’s hungry with land, the resources to feed the land, and their children. Poverty is a reason many will not eat today. The systems perpetuating poverty are reasons many may not eat tomorrow.

Farmers in Indonesia
Image Source: viacampesina.org

 

A Symbol of Resilience: Urban Gardens Amidst a Pandemic

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In response to: “Urban Gardens Combat COVID-19 Virus” by ari3

Your post peaked my interest as the COVID-19 pandemic has illustrated how crucial food sovereignty is in the face of a crisis; even Amartya Sven, someone that has claimed food sovereignty to be a “a peculiarly obtuse way of thinking about food security”, admits that in time of crisis and instability self-sufficiency is valuable.

As we’ve discussed in class, urban gardening can be used as a source of empowerment and can ensure that disenfranchised groups have access to healthy food. It is important to note that the same health issues exacerbated by living in a food desert, such as obesity and heart disease, have also led to a disproportionate amount of COVID-related deaths amongst African Americans. As the fight for a more equitable and just food system continues, the value of, and need for, urban gardens and farms has never been more evident.

With that being said, your post does bring up the important point that although the need for urban gardens is unmistakable, current public health precautions make maintaining urban gardens increasingly difficult. As a result, I have decided to highlight instances where urban gardens have demonstrated resilience in the face of the pandemic.

I would be remiss not to address my own experience with the local community garden in my neighborhood. Eager to continue operations, the volunteer coordinators quickly adapted to the developing situation, requiring all volunteers to bring a mask, their own gloves, and hand-sanitizer, while also limiting work parties to 5 people and enforcing social distancing guidelines. Food that is harvested is currently being donated to a local food pantry and is available to any volunteers in need. Other urban gardens like, Sprout Nola in Louisiana, have identified another solution by delivering seedlings started by seasoned gardeners to members of the community. Our own UW Farm, a typically student-powered operation, has continued to function on our student-less campus, thanks to the dedication of full-time manager Perry Aceworth and AmeriCorps volunteer Adam Houston.

What a work day looks like in the era of coronavirus at the Sustain DuPage garden. Photo by: Anya Gavrylko

Although current conditions are less than ideal for urban gardens and farms, these food systems have been a symbol of social-ecological resilience in the face of a crisis, and will hopefully strengthen our food system for years to come.

Sources

Amartya Sven quote: https://www.globalpolicy.org/component/content/article/211/44284.html