Getting out of the food crisis

The current food crisis is focusing attention on the way food reaches some of the most disadvantaged people in the world. In this edition of GRAIN's Seedling magazine, a collection of articles highlight the less discussed aspects of the food crisis and responses to it. <br /><br />The authors depict a fierce battle being fought between multinational corporations wishing to take advantage of the crisis, and organisations of small-scale farmers, fisherfolk and indigenous people arguing for sustainable food systems, based on indigenous knowledge and controlled by local farmers. They argue that the crisis is an opportunity for change, and that the solution is a radical shift in power away from the international financial institutions and global development agencies, so that small-scale farmers, still responsible for most food consumed throughout the world, set agricultural policy. <br /><br />The edition contains the following articles:<br /> 'The food crisis and the hybrid rice surge' - argues that China's current push for the further development of hybrid rice could be devastating not only for small farmers but also for future world rice production 'The food emergency and food myths' - explains why Bush is wrong to blame Indians for the rise in food prices 'Mismanaging avian flu in Benin' - critiques Benin's response to the arrival of the H5N1 variety of avian flu 'Food safety: rigging the game' - argues that US and EU corporations are cleverly twisting food safety regulations to promote their products in foreign markets and to protect their domestic markets 'Polish farmers defy EU bureaucracy' - describes how Polish farmers are finding that the practices they adopted hundreds of years ago are now illegal under EU policy 'Saying &ldquo;no&rdquo; to chemical farming in India' - describes how farmers in Andhra Pradesh in southern India are building an ecological and sustainable model of farming that allows them to restore the fertility of their soils and to break free of the control of the middlemen.<br />The edition also provides an interview with Professor Tim Lang, a leading food specialist in the UK, who argues that far reaching change is coming to the way we produce and market food because of new environmental and energy constraints.