Choosing War Over Food

The purpose of their international summit is to do something to help the 1 billion people worldwide who will face famine this year. In order to address this global problem, this week the UN asked the international community at the UN Food Summit for 44 billion dollars to invest in agriculture in developing nations. The summit said no to this request.

Meanwhile the total amount spent by the US alone on the occupation of Afghanistan will total 223 billion dollars this year.  According to Jo Stiglitz and Linda Bilmes’ research, both wars combined have cost 3 trillion dollars.

Military experts and political leaders continue to argue about how best to resolve the conflict in Afghanistan, how best to spend  the hundreds of billions of dollars for fighting their war. Yet we know what it takes to stop hunger, we know how to feed people, and we don’t do it.

So Long Agricultural Free Trade

In a few hours I head to Brussels where I’m participating, for the second year in a row, in European Youth Media Days.? This year I’m helping coordinate and speaking as part of a workshop on Food Prices and the Media.

In preperation for this event I’ve been stepping up my own research into the global food production system over the past 100 years and the current breakdown it is experiencing.? Although the conference is Europe focused, I’m finding alot of useful and I would argue, applicable examples and analysis from North American news sources.

My hope is that one thing young journalists at this event will think more about is what lay behind the story of food prices. I have no interest in the typical commercial media exercise of finding a person-on-the-street and asking how they feel about prices. A more useful exercise would be to look at who benefits from increased food prices, and even before that, how was the global agricultural system organized that it could fall so hard, so fast.? From there the connections should be made to climate change, CO2 emissions, the lack of emphasis over the last decades on growing local and crop diversity. All these things happened for a reason, and if we’re to solve this problem as a society, we need journalists to do more than just point to the price tags and stick a microphone in front of consumers.

bm280 On the Ground in Haiti

Our returning champion of humanitarian work, Mr. Tarak, joins us to discuss what is happening on the ground in Haiti as the country struggles to deal with extreme weather and a humanitarian disaster.

bm225 What Really Happens to Our Food Aid?

When you hear the words food aid you no doubt imagine a wealthy country sending bags of food to parts of the world where people are starving. Yet in the case of the US, the reality is quite different. In fact, there is many ways that your food does not go from here to there. Even more alarming, could the US food aid program be hurting hungry people more than helping them?

“Who Does US Food Aid Benefit” is a recent article for In These Times, written by my first guest Megan Tady.

We then hear from Jordan Dey, director of US Relations for the World Food Program

Topics Covered:
– Different types of food aid
– Agri-business money making
– Genetically Modified Food
– Buying Local and Local Farmers
– Free Trade Agreements
– The farm bill
– Underlying Economic and Political goals
– Needs to address the present hunger crises around the world
+much more

Starving Out the Hungry

Ever since Lindsay started writing for In These Times, I’ve become a regular reader of their work. One recent article on food donations from the US and how the food donation system works has sparked my attention as a topic for an upcoming podcast.

According to their investigation, the US food aid system, which is supposed to feed starving people throughout the world, actually works against that goal. By selling off much of the food, encouraging factory farming, using genetically modified foods, and seeking to boost US influence in different regions, the food aid program can actually increase the level of hunger in the world.

50% of the world’s food donations are said to come from the US… but clearly that fact in itself does not tell the whole story. And while you often hear about how a country donates food to help starving people, there is significant evidence that what is really happening is the creation of a corrupt and inhumane shadow economy where political agendas and profit seeking supersede the aim of assisting those in need.

More on this topic coming soon in a podcast.