Want to feed the World? Scrap Corporate-Controlled Agriculture

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Eco-Farming Can Double Food Production in 10 Years,
says new UN report



Small-scale farmers can double food production within 10 years in critical regions by using ecological methods, a new UN report  shows. Based on an extensive review of the recent scientific literature, the study calls for a fundamental shift towards agroecology as a way to boost food production and improve the situation of the poorest.

“To feed 9 billion people in 2050, we urgently need to adopt  the  most  efficient  farming techniques available,” says Olivier De Schutter, UN Special Rapporteur on the right to food and author of the report. “Today’s scientific evidence demonstrates that agroecological methods outperform the use of chemical fertilizers in boosting food production where the hungry live -- especially in unfavourable environments.”

Olivier De Schutter: ditch
corporate-controlled, chemical-intensive farming
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There are a billion hungry people in the world and that number could rise as food insecurity increases along with population growth, economic fallout and environmental crises. But a roadmap to defeating hunger exists, if we can follow the course -- and that course involves ditching corporate-controlled, chemical-intensive farming.

The report, based on an extensive review of recent scientific literature, demonstrates that agroecology, if sufficiently supported, can double food production in entire regions within 10 years while mitigating climate change and alleviating rural poverty.

Now it’s Fair Trade: rebranding the TPPA

Nothing new under the sun;
colonise your opponents language
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Re-branding is nothing new to the world of business, particularly when the brand carries the burden of history (think North America Free Trade Agreement). It comes then as no surprise that the advocates of the Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement, the much hyped free trade agreement for the 21st century, have decided on a name change.

According to Illinois Republican Congressman Don Manzullo, leader of the congressional delegation to last month’s NZ-US Partnership Forum,  in Christchurch to “help negotiate the Trans-Pacific Partnership” it’s actually a 'fair' trade agreement.

Congressman Manzullo’s media release expresses “serious concerns with proposals by some negotiating partners to eliminate the patentability of software and weaken trademark protection for certain products, as well as the absence of robust investor-state dispute settlement”.

The vid below untangles all that jargon, and is well worth viewing, but the short of it simply put, Australia’s tobacco ‘plain packaging’ and the soft ware patent legislation are a problem.