UK FOOD GROUP
UKFG PRIORITIES
EUROPEAN NETWORKS
RESOURCES
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Sustainable Agriculture
 The
UK Food Group is working to raise awareness of the importance of food
sovereignty. One dimension of this is the need for localised food systems
that use sustainable agroecology practices based on locally-developed
agricultural biodiversity.
An activity is the UK Agricultural Biodiversity
Coalition (UKabc) which aims to increase the understanding
of policy makers, NGOs and the public, of the importance of the conservation
and sustainable use of agricultural biodiversity for food and livelihood
security. This also includes issues concerning Benefit Sharing, Farmers'
Rights, Patents, Intellectual Property Rights, Seed Saving, Biopiracy,
Biotechnology, Genetic Engineering and GM Food Aid. A special focus is
on the ratification of the FAO International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources
for Food and Agriculture and the implementation of the recommendations
of the UK Commission on Intellectual Property Rights.
The UKabc website contains
much more information relating to sustainable agriculture, argoecology
and agricultural biodiversity.
| CAP's impact on productive structures and family-based agriculture in Europe |
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| Author: UK Food Group |
Date: 08/04/10 |
EuropAfrica Project
CAP's impact on productive structures
and family-based agriculture in Europe
UK CASE STUDY
UK Food Group
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| EFSG Joint Contribution to EU Consultation |
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| Author: EFSG |
Date: 13/01/10 |
| EFSG Joint Contribution to the EU Consultation on the Issues Paper "Towards an EU policy framework to assist developing countries addressing agriculture and food security challenges" |
| UK Food Group contribution to the White Paper |
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| Author: UKFG |
Date: 03/06/09 |
The UK Food Group (UKFG)1 2is making this submission to inform the preparation of the
White Paper. These comments refer to four of the five questions posed in the White Paper
consultation.
We argue that the UK government should include food and farming as an essential part of
this White Paper, but that is not enough. It is essential that the government is both bold and
radical in suggesting real and meaningful changes to the sustainable production and
distribution of food. We argue that it should facilitate the implementation, without delay, of
changes in its international development programme that will assist countries and
communities to realise food sovereignty. For example, the IAASTD report, which the
government approved, offers the way forward – sustainable agricultural production based on
the wise and prudent and sustainable use of our environment. |
| 2008 monitoring report of the European Commission's proposal for Advancing African Agriculture (AAA) |
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| Author: European civil society organisations |
Date: 09/12/08 |
| This report is drawn from research carried out by a number of European CSOs and published in a longer background document (see below). |
| Advancing African Agriculture - The Impact of European policies and practices on African Agriculture (background document) |
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| Author: European civil society organisations |
Date: 23/10/08 |
Monitoring Exercise by European Civil Society Organisations of the EC's "Advancing African Agriculture" (AAA): proposal for continental and regional level cooperation on agricultural development in Africa (COM(2007)440 final. AAA aims at providing strategic guidance for allocating European Development Fund (EDF) and other EC resources and for overall coordination of European support to African agriculture by all Member States.
Despite expressed concerns about the food crisis in Africa, European policies and practices are still negatively affecting African Agriculture - radical changes, in the direction of policy coherence above all; are needed urgently to support Africa's small-scale farmers so that Africa Can Feed Itself.
The overall conclusions and recommendations of this exercise are that:
Whatever positive steps have been taken by DG Development in implementing AAA (e.g. support for African farmer networks currently under negotiation) have been more than overshadowed by the negative impact of European policies in other areas (trade, investment, agriculture, agribusiness).Effective mechanisms for enhancing coherence of bilateral and multilateral European support have not been put in place. A clear framework for involving European CSOs and African farmers' organizations has not be developed despite recommendations in this regard by the General Council and the European Parliament, The November 2008 review by these bodies needs to address these deficiencies.
The current food crisis offers an opportunity for promoting AAA and rethinking paradigms for agricultural development, the architecture for the global governance of food and agriculture issues, and modalities of North/South partnerships in order to realize food sovereignty and secure local food supplies. EU has an extremely significant role to play in this context. to play this role authoritatively will require a far higher degree of coherence than presently obtains.
European civil society - working with African farmers' organizations and other African civil society sectors - has an important role to play in proposing alternative approaches, such as food sovereignty, monitoring implementation (at both global and country levels) and pointing to coherence issues that governments and intergovernmental institutions have difficulty in acknowledging.
It is important in coming years to involve sectors of European civil society not normally concerned about African agriculture, including family farmers, consumers, environmentalists, trade unions, and to win their support for coherent European policies that promote sustainable, equitable development for both European and African society.
The 2009 European Parliamentary elections offer an opportunity to bring these issues to the attention of a wider public. |
| Food Price Crisis : What needs to be done? |
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| Author: CONCORD European Food Security Group |
Date: 22/10/08 |
The food prices crisis requires policy change, especially in the field of agriculture, based on the human right to food as well as short term and long term efforts in terms of aid governance.
Besides providing a short analysis of the causes of the current food price crisis and the impact they are having on the lives of the poorest, this document provides a critical outlook on the international responses already underway and sets out the main short, medium and long term policy responses necessary to tackle the crisis. The final part of the document details the calls to action by the EFSG regarding this crisis. |
| More Aid for African Agriculture: policy implications for small-scale farmers |
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| Author: UK Food Group |
Date: 28/08/08 |
This report is a call to governments to increase Aid for small-scale African farmers in ways that will help them to feed their people, improve their livelihoods and sustain the environment.
Aid to improve local food production and consumption does not, however, appear to be the priority, despite the urgency of the food crisis.
The evidence presented in a report published today “More Aid for African Agriculture: policy implications for small-scale farmers” is that there is an apparent consensus among major donors to focus aid rather on five main issues that support economic growth and the liberalisation agenda: aid effectiveness; market- and private sector-led agricultural growth; exiting agriculture; improved governance; and African ownership of problems and solutions. |
| UK Food Group submission to IDC enquiry World Food Programme and Global Food |
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| Author: UKFG |
Date: 14/05/08 |
UK Food Group submission to the International Development Committee - published July 2008.
Summary:
• This submission focuses on the need for improved cooperation, refocusing of goals and reorganisation of tasks between UN and other international agencies concerned with the governance of the global food system, including the Food and Agriculture Organisation, at a time of not only a food crisis, but also institutional crises in the agencies.
• It provides an historical overview through a selected overview of the, still relevant, outcomes of the 1974 World Food Conference and a review of the current context including the impacts of increased concentration of economic power in the food system; trade rules; climate change; food and health; water and waste; and agrofuels.
• It argues that a new approach to secure future food supplies is needed, one that is based on local control of food systems, securing locally-procured and accessible grain stores and building on the knowledge of the world’s main food providers – small-scale producers – that defends their production systems, which work with nature. The multilateral agencies will need to work more effectively together and with States and meso-level institutions to implement such approaches.
• It supports the idea of a meta-evaluation of the key global food agencies, subsequent consultation at national and regional levels on the results of such an evaluation and the formulation in a global meeting of proposals for an inclusive body, comprising both State and Civil Society actors, that could provide oversight, coherence and accountability of the different agencies.
• It also suggests that the IDC may wish to follow carefully the processes on Aid Effectiveness and the review of DFID’s 2005 agriculture policy that need to consider institutional coherence and cooperation.
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| Food sovereignty principles |
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| Author: Patrick Mulvany |
Date: 03/01/08 |
| The six principles of food sovereignty derived from Nyéléni 2007: forum for food sovereignty, and an article written for the Food Ethics Council Bulletin about this forum are in this document. |
| New Year 2008 message from UKFG Chair |
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| Author: Patrick Mulvany |
Date: 03/01/08 |
| Message highlighting events and challenges in 2008 |
| Report UK World Food Day 2007 |
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| Author: UK Food Group |
Date: 06/11/07 |
“Defending Farmers and the Right to Food”
UK World Food Day 2007
FULL REPORT - 16pp PDF (550 kb)
The UK Food Group marked World Food Day on 16th October with a series of member-led seminars, briefings, publication launches and debates. The seminars and debates described how food providers should be integrated into decision making processes and could be better supported in order to realise the Right to Food and food sovereignty. |
| World Development Report 2008: Agriculture for Development |
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| Author: UKFG |
Date: 29/10/07 |
| The World bank has published its World Development Report 2008 "Agriculture an Development". The attached PDF file contains and links to comments by NGOs (Oxfam, Action Aid, IATP) as well as links to the contents of the full report. |
| Comments on DFID draft White Paper “Eliminating World Poverty” |
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| Author: UK Food Group |
Date: 03/04/06 |
We welcome the opportunity to participate in the process to deliver a new White Paper this year to the extent that it will build upon and strengthen the initiatives and policies proposed in the previous two White Papers. Our support is also qualified by the extent to which the new White Paper will signal a decisive shift in the manner of
development assistance towards an inclusive, deliberative process of inclusion of poor women and men and their representative organisations in decision making about, and actions resulting from, aid policies and programmes. |
| Achieving fairness in trading between supermarkets and their agrifood supply chains |
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| Author: UK Food Group Briefing Paper |
Date: 30/10/05 |
Authored by Anne Tallontire and Bill Vorley.
What are the prospects for fair trade to become the norm rather than exception for trading between supermarkets, their suppliers, and farmers at home and around the world?
That is the question asked in this paper, which comes at a time of widespread scrutiny of UK supermarkets and their influence on the livelihoods of food producers and suppliers. The paper reviews the opportunities and risks in incorporating fairness into supermarkets' trading practices. It concludes with a series of public policies, especially competition policy, that would be required to underpin fairness and equity in companies’ mainstream trading practices. |
| UKFG response to DFID consultation on “Productivity growth for poverty reduction: an approach to agriculture” |
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| Author: UK Food Group |
Date: 12/10/05 |
The UKFG engaged with DFID in its consultation process on developing its new long-term agriculture and poverty reduction guidelines for its programmes and country offices, in particular facilitating responses from CSOs to its 14 working papers. The UK Food Group submitted it's response in September 2005.
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| FOOD SOVEREIGNTY: towards democracy in localized food systems |
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| Author: ITDG Publishing / FIAN |
Date: 22/05/05 |
This paper was launched by the author, Michael Windfuhr, at a UK Food Group Seminar in June 2005.
"FOOD SOVEREIGNTY: towards democracy in localized food systems" by Michael Windfuhr and Jennie Jonsén, FIAN. ITDG Publishing - working paper. 64pp. 2005. Also available in Spanish.
The paper provides a comprehensive history, overview and analysis of the Food Sovereignty Policy Framework. Links to many key statements and documents produced over the past decade.
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| Dialogue on Agricultural Trade Reform, Subsidies and the Future of Small and Family Farms |
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| Author: Tom Lines |
Date: 01/04/04 |
This paper is intended to serve as the main input to a conference on Agricultural Trade Reform, Subsidies and the Future of Small and Family Farms and Farmers, to be held in June 2004. It reports on a survey conducted for the U.K. Food Group (UKFG) / Sustain Working Group on Trade and Agriculture. An invitation to participate in the survey and associated dialogue was extended to numerous non-governmental organisations in October 2003.
Also see the list of submissions to the paper with links to the submission papers. |
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| Author: UK Food Group |
Date: 31/03/99 |
Hungry for Power details the impact of food and agriculture transnationals on food security. Between then, the food and agribusiness corporations have huge control over every part of the food chain, from land to seeds, crops to chemicals, processing to marketing.
Hungry for power spotlights the activities of Nestle, Cargill, Monsanto, Chiquita, Zeneca and British American Tobacco - all are charged with undermining global food security. |
| EFSG Common position on the reform of the Committee on Food Security |
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| Contact: EFSG |
Date: 08/10/09 |
The current crisis of the food system is the product of decades of wrong policies, of neglect of agriculture and rural development, of faith that markets would suffice to guarentee the right to food of the world’s population. The food crisis – interlinked with the financial, climatic and energy crises - has worsened the intolerable situation of the over one billion persons in the world who suffer from chronic hunger. At the same time, however, it has opened a window of opportunity by highlighting the urgency of deep changes in both the paradigms and the governance we adopt while seeking to attain food and nutrition security.
The European NGO members of Concord have been heartened by the steps towards more effective cooperation and coordination that have been taken by international institutions over the past months. Now the reform of the Committee on World Food Security (CFS) provides a decisive opportunity to set the global governance of food, agriculture and nutrition on a firm basis. As we move toward the final negotiations of the reform in the coming session of the CFS in Rome on 14-17 October the position of the European Union is crucial since its stance thus far has been generally supportive of the effort to transform the CFS into a strong and authoritative global policy forum.
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| AGRICULTURE AT A CROSSROADS: Implementing the findings of the international agriculture assessment |
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| Contact: IAASTD |
Date: 22/09/08 |
30th October, 2:00-5.00pm, London.
Sponsored by: Andrew George MP and Alan Simpson MP.
Keynote speaker: Professor Bob Watson, Director IAASTD and DEFRA Chief Scientist. More information as 125kb PDF |
| Food Sovereignty and the Right to Food |
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| Contact: UKFG |
Date: 28/01/10 |
Keynote Presentation: Michael Windfuhr, author “Food Sovereignty: towards democracy in localised food systems”
28 January 2010
This seminar will inform, discuss and deepen understanding of the ways in which implementing the food sovereignty framework and realizing the right to food will strengthen our food systems and eradicate hunger, secure livelihoods of food providers and sustain the biosphere. Michael Windfuhr’s presentation will provide insight into the stark choices for the food system in the face of multiple crises. |
| Rewriting the Rules... to secure our future food |
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| Contact: UK Food Group |
Date: 28/09/09 |
| Our well-attended conference discussed urgent solutions to rising hunger and the multiple crises affecting the world’s dysfunctional food system that leaves one billion hungry and makes one billion obese. It discussed and proposed changes to national and international rules and regulations that should be rewritten if we are to secure future food supplies in ways that are socially and environmentally sustainable. Policy analysts and farmers from Europe and Africa led debates about specific rule changes and alternatives, in the context of food sovereignty |
| Agriculture at a Crossroads: Implementing the findings of the international agriculture assessment IAASTD |
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| Contact: UK Food Group |
Date: 30/10/08 |
The 30 October UKFG meeting "Agriculture at a Crossroads: Implementing the findings of the international agriculture assessment - IAASTD" was enriched by the participation of about 100 people in a packed Committee Room in the Houses of Parliament. We are very grateful to Andrew George MP and Alan Simpson MP for sponsoring the meeting, to Bob Watson, Director IAASTD and DEFRA Chief Scientist, Patrick Mulvany, Practical Action, and Janet Cotter, Greenpeace, for speaking at the meeting and to Jeanette Longfield, Sustain, for chairing.
The meeting deepened understanding about this important UN/World Bank-sponsored report from the IAASTD and explored ways to implement its findings. |
| AGRICULTURAL BIODIVERSITY COALITION (UK) |
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| UKabc is an activity of the UK Food Group: Bringing together Public Interest UK organisations concerned with Sustainable Use, Conservation, Benefit Sharing, Trade, Patents, Intellectual Property, Biopiracy, Biotechnology, Genetic Engineering, Biosafety and other issues related to the Equitable Use of Agricultural Biodiversity for Local Food and Livelihood Security. |
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