One in nine people worldwide are undernourished today. Farmers, fishers, farm workers, and others along the food chain are especially at risk for going hungry. At the same time, world agricultural systems are more productive than they’ve ever been, producing more than enough food to feed everyone. The problem isn’t lack of food, but who has the power and resources to access and control food.
The current food system is dictated by the demands of markets and corporations, reducing food to an internationally traded commodity. Food sovereignty instead puts those who produce, distribute, and consume wholesome, local food at the heart of food systems and policies. It offers a strategy to resist and dismantle the current unsustainable system that has resulted in chronic undernutrition and rapidly rising obesity.
The food sovereignty movement is therefore led by family farmers, fishers, and other food producers. The movement is especially strong in the Global South, where centuries of colonist rule and subsequent wars for independence have made the concept of sovereignty and self-rule especially resonant. In the United States, we might think of the concept also as food democracy, a form of food justice, or local control. (author abstract)
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