Communication

The UK Food Group seeks to create awareness of the key issues around food security from sustainable agriculture, to the impact of the international food supply chain, food and agriculture TNCs and the effects of the global food trade.

We publish thought-provoking essays and briefing papers, organise seminars and media briefings, run a website, and organise the World Food Day Debate, an annual public event. In 2002, the motion debated was, 'This house believes that food sovereignty provides the best means for feeding the hungry poor.' It was proposed by Michael Windfuhr of the Food Information and Action Network, and seconded by Suman Sahai of the Indian National Biodiversity Board.

In 1999 and 2000 we ran the World Food Awards, a popular event devised to increase understanding, awareness and concern about world hunger by focusing media and public attention on UN World Food Day. Judged by some of the UK's leading journalists, food writers, and environmentalists, the awards celebrated initiatives which seek to meet the food needs of people and safeguard the environment, and highlighted the reasons why the food system is failing over 800 million hungry people.

Hungry for Power

The food and agribusiness corporations have immense control over every part of the food chain: from land to seeds, crops to chemicals, processing to marketing. This extraordinary influence gives them the means of power over life itself, for food is our most basic human need. These companies enjoy the position of economic superpowers and speak directly into the ears of international trade negotiators, yet are not subject to any democratic controls.

Published by the UKFG in 1999 to wide acclaim, Hungry for Power documents the impact of food and agriculture transnational corporations on food security. It spotlights the activities of Nestlé, Cargill, Monsanto, Chiquita, Zeneca, and British American Tobacco - all charged with undermining food security.

The report was commissioned by the UKFG to increase awareness of the activities of the transnational corporations and to document how they are abusing their dominant position to the detriment of the poor. It makes a powerful case for action to curb the activities of transnational corporations where their activities threaten food security.

Other UK Food Group publications include:

Mapping Government Thinking on Globalisation, a discussion document which highlights the contradictions in government thinking on globalisation and food security issues.

Selling Out: the cost of free trade for food security in India. This essay by Indian food and trade policy analyst Devinder Sharma is a powerful indictment of the impact of globalisation and the activities of transnational corporations.