An important report has appeared from the International Panel of Experts on Sustainable Food Production Systems (IPES Food) and the Action Group on Erosion, Technology and Concentration (ETC Group). Their paper analyses the current agro-food situation and launches the Long Food Movement, on how to transform our food system by 2045.
‘Long Food Movement’ refers to the collective activities and umbrella strategies of civil society and social movements – from grassroots organizations to international NGOs, from farmers and fishers’ groups to cooperatives and unions. The idea is not to get everyone on the exact same page, but to help them to assemble their separate pages into a powerful plan of action towards 2045. Organizations would remain diverse and independent, even as their strategies are increasingly aligned. Without food movements playing a leading role, we find it hard to envisage anything like the scale of food system change that is required. However, civil society and social movements cannot do it alone. They will need to apply constant pressure on governments to act in the public interest, as well as working with political parties, scientists, businesses, foundations, and many others. Collaboration does require time and energy, and that’s why developing low-cost, high-impacts modes of collaboration is one of the four key transformation pathways of a Long Food Movement. The idea of a Long Food Movement is to enhance connections and information flows between different struggles, not to replace one with another. Foresight around the planned expansion of an agribusiness commodity chain, or the rise of new bio digital players, could be what helps rights defenders stop a resource grab in its tracks. The biggest shocks of recent years (e.g. mass extinctions of species, wildfires) were predictable and predicted – not in date and detail – in parameters and probability. We know that hurricanes, floods, and droughts are followed by epidemics and famines. Every large-scale natural disaster can reasonably be assumed to entail economic shocks and political upheaval. We cannot predict the future, but we can and must be ready to act when largely foreseeable events (what we call ‘Grey Swans’) occur.
Technological innovations are central to the civil-society-led transformation described in this report, from small-scale drones for field monitoring to consumer apps for true cost accounting and new tools for instantaneously decoding negotiating texts.
The report warns about the agribusiness-led strategies driven by new corporate giants (from data platforms to private equity firms) who are teaming up with multinational agribusinesses to disrupt and extract value from every node of the food system, as well as shutting down democratic governance.
The report is available in English; French and Spanish versions are being prepared.
Gruppo Suolo Europa 