Food Justice

The global financial debacle has drowned out coverage of the rise in food prices. There are billion-dollar bailouts for banks while the poor go hungry. A billion people around the world face food insecurity. The crisis has arisen from a mix of speculation and deregulation, promotion of inputs such as fertilizers and pesticides, the diversion of crops to biofuel production, and trade policies that have pushed farmers to grow monoculture cash crops primarily soy and corn for export rather than for in-country consumption as food. The Urban & Environmental Policy Institute says, “Food justice is everyone having enough to eat; healthy food for our children; food that doesn’t contain harmful things that we don’t know about; freedom to grow our own food; ability to buy food directly from farmers; fair wages for those who grow, cook and work with food.”