Welcome to the era of food activism. More than ever before, how we farm and feed ourselves is how we change the world around us. Worldwatch Institute's Sustainable Agriculture Program highlights the benefits to farmers, consumers, and ecosystems that can flow from food systems that are flexible enough to deal with shifting weather patterns, productive enough to meet the needs of expanding populations, and accessible enough to support rural community.
The program's major focus is on creating a roadmap for farmers, agribusiness, policymakers, international development agencies, private funders, and other agricultural decision-makers to guide them through such challenges as food price spikes, the collapse of major seafood sources, and the emergence and reemergence of animal diseases.
While today's dominant farming systems produce food in abundance, this often carries the steep price of depleted soils, poisoned lands and waterways, rising greenhouse gas emissions, and increasing poverty. When sustainably practiced, however, agriculture can nourish people and support rural livelihoods. It can also protect soils and water supplies and help communities cope with a changing climate.
As more and more people view what they eat as a way to change the world around them, farmers, agribusiness, chefs, parents, and other interested eaters can be harnessed as important allies in addressing hunger, climate change, and other global challenges.
Poll
What do you think is the most important step that the global community can take to reduce hunger and poverty?:
a. Increase funding for agricultural research and investment
b. Recognize the important role that women farmers have in producing food in the developing world
c. Recognize the role of small farmers in food production and compensate them for carbon sequestration projects
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