Insight and inspiration in turbulent times.
I of course had very limited exposure to the thousands of simultaneous events. But my sense was that there was little meaningful interchange between different positions. Two worlds talked past each other or – because of restricted access, problems with visas and the high costs of attending –- never even met.
It may come as a shock to Harvard students, faculty, and alumni, as well as the millions of educators and others in the United States whose pensions are managed by TIAA, to learn that these two institutions are deeply and directly invested in this destructive expansion of agribusiness. Over the past twelve years, TIAA and Harvard University have collectively spent over $1 billion on Brazilian farmland, making them two of the largest owners of farmland in the Cerrado.
Farmland REITs put profit over principle. As an investment tool, the primary goal of a REIT is to generate a profit for its investors. This means that all other considerations, including the needs of farmworkers, farmers, soil health, surrounding community, and watersheds are secondary to the profitability of the asset, if they are considered at all.
Eight years after releasing its first report on land grabbing, which put the issue on the international agenda, GRAIN publishes a new dataset documenting nearly 500 cases of land grabbing around the world.
This chapter explores the features of sustainable commons and the extent of commons today. It describes the practice of commoning as a possible response to the ecological crisis.
Whether retired Herefordshire farmer’s meal-time ritual or recent fashion among middle-class foodies, determining the provenance of our food carries a meaning and historic significance belied by family frivolity.
Campesinos, or rural farmers, are vital for any country.
As women, men, peasants, smallholder family farmers, migrant, rural workers, indigenous, and youth of La Via Campesina, we denounce climate smart agriculture which is presented to us as a solution to climate change and as a mechanism for sustainable development.
Report shows that small farms provide most of the world’s food because they are often much more productive than large corporate farms, yet the land available to them is shrinking.
In California, the prototype of a combined social, political and technical solution has been launched which promises to unlock the food system crisis.
This is a book that seems to be created above all for people who are active in social movements, but who are also uneasy about the current global crisis.
Interview with Fred Pearce as detailed in his recent book: The Land Grabbers, followed by Gregor Macdonald about the global energy trends
