Surviving Capitalism (Not) : Five Things You Can Do to Break up Big Food and Build Local Food Economies

We’ve lived so long under the spell of hierarchy—from god-kings to feudal lords to party bosses—that only recently have we awakened to see not only that “regular” citizens have the capacity for self-governance, but that without their engagement our huge global crises cannot be addressed. The changes needed for human society simply to survive, let alone thrive, are so profound that the only way we will move toward them is if we ourselves, regular citizens, feel meaningful ownership of solutions through direct engagement. Our problems are too big, interrelated, and pervasive to yield to directives from on high.
—Frances Moore Lappé, excerpt from Time for Progressives to Grow Up

Wednesday, June 2, 2010

Five Things You Can Do to Break up Big Food and Build Local Food Economies

from Bust the Trust

Big agribusiness has taken over your dinner table. This corporate domination has harmed farmers, who are stuck buying inputs and selling product to a tiny number of corporations. Monopoly power over our food has also limited the number of consumer choices to a few brands of unhealthy processed foods, and many neighborhoods are left without any fresh produce at all. This corporate food chain is being exported worldwide by these same companies. What we need instead is a just and sustainable food system that makes sure farmers make a decent living and everyone can afford good food.