Small scale sustainable agriculture and La Via Campesina

Not many people know this....... 70% of the World's population depends on  food produced by smallholder farmers, peasants, fishers, pastoralists and indigenous people; this includes Crofters. Over the last fifty years large scale industrialised agriculture and the food industry have created the impression among consumers that they produce most of the World's food; they don't.

Next week the "Committee on World Food Security" meets in Rome and investment in agriculture will be an issue. The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRCD) and the United Nations (FAO) claim that industrialised farming is the solution to world hunger and that large private investments in agriculture are needed.

In reality large scale agriculture hampers small scale production by  reducing smallholders capacity to produce by : controlling markets, affecting rights to seeds, hampering access to land etc. Small scale farming also provides employment, especially for women. In Rome, delegates from the international peasant's movement, "La Via Campesina"( the Scottish Crofter's Federation (SCF) is an affiliate) will argue that food security depends on more public investment in small scale sustainable agriculture and that family farms need protection against the power of corporate agriculture.  I just thought you might like to know this, it is after all your food and your food security.