What do a chef from the jungles of Papua, mountain farmers from Upper Austria, the French agronomist Gérard Choplin and organic pioneer Werner Lampert have in common? They all care about our food supply. However, they are not only concerned with ensuring that we have enough to eat every day, but also with food sovereignty.
Background knowledge and understanding of food sovereignty is not yet widespread. The term is often simply equated with food security, which means that much of the content of this important concept is lost. We are therefore devoting an entire focus to this long word.
The term is a very recent one from the late 20th century, but the developments that made it necessary naturally go back further. Industrialization, the Marshall Plan and trade agreements play an important role(more on the history of food sovereignty). Agriculture became more globalized by the day and small family farms came under increasing pressure. In 1993, the small farmers' organization "La Via Campesina" was formed in Mons, Belgium.
"After the GATT/WTO agreement in 1994, it was clear to the farmers of La Via Campesina that in future they would have less and less control over their farms," writes Gérard Choplin(former policy officer of the European Coordination Via Campesina on Food Sovereignty). In 1996, the organization presented the concept of food sovereignty for the first time at the FAO World Food Summit in Rome.
The small farmers' organization La Via Campesina summarizes food sovereignty as follows: "Food sovereignty is the RIGHT of all peoples, countries or groups of countries to define their own agricultural and food policies, without dumping on third countries".(More on the concept of food sovereignty)
Food sovereignty today
The term was coined by small farmers, but a wide variety of institutions and individuals are now taking up the idea and campaigning for it. In the SMART scientific sustainability assessment by the Research Institute of Organic Agriculture, food sovereignty is even one of 58 sub-themes of sustainability.(The scientific aspect of food sovereignty)
The ideology is lived and supported by anyone who upholds the principles of food sovereignty of "a just, ecologically harmonious and local food and farming system" (FAO 2014), even if they have never heard the term before. This could be an Upper Austrian farm with 50 employees(Loidholfhof introduces itself), but also a so-called indigenous chef in faraway Papua(Cooks Preserve Traditions).
Agricultural scientist and author Andrea Heistinger sees the matter like this: "You have to look at it in human terms: Some people feel comfortable in smaller units and others thrive in large teams or are able to oversee large contexts. Food sovereignty is possible for both, as long as people can develop their potential and the system is based on reciprocity and relationships."(Interview with the author of "Basiswissen Selbstversorgung aus Biogärten")
You too can make nutrition more confident
Even if you do not run a farm, you can still contribute to food sovereignty.
- Eat in company as often as possible. Meals not only serve to maintain vital functions in the body, but also to preserve traditions and promote awareness of food(Wie ichesse, so lebe ich - Prof. Christine Brombach in an interview).
- Choose authentic regional products where the added value is created locally(What is authentic regionality?).
- Place value on GMO-free production. Genetically modified organisms are often patented, driving farmers into dependency.(Genome editing and its effects)
- Produce some of your own food(respect grows with the plants).
- Support sustainable agriculture by consuming their products.
Food sovereignty is both political and emotional, it is closely interwoven with economic, social and ecological aspects. It contains rebellion, revolution and demands healthy food that has been produced sustainably and under respectful conditions for people.
It definitely provides enough interesting information to put it in the spotlight.
About the author
Dr. Isabell Riedl has been working as a sustainability officer and in communications at Werner Lampert GmbH since 2012. She studied ecology with a focus on nature and landscape conservation and tropical ecology at the University of Vienna. She wrote her dissertation on the importance of tree rows in agricultural areas for forest birds in Costa Rica. Throughout her life, she has been particularly committed to ecological sustainability. She is part of the editorial team of the online magazine "Nachhaltigkeit. Neu denken." (Rethinking Sustainability).
