Agriculture

IATP has been advocating for fair and sustainable agriculture and food systems for more than 35 years. Learn more about our agriculture work on our Agriculture & Food Systems page.

One Penny More: New video launches CIW supermarket campaign

IATP Food and Society Fellows Shalini Kantayya and Sean Sellers have collaborated on the latest campaign video for the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW).

Why We Need Food Reserves

The recent food price crisis had devastating consequences for world hunger. During the peak of the crisis, from March 2007 to March 2008, the global price of rice increased 74 percent (most of that in a few weeks); the price of wheat more than doubled, rising 130 percent during the same period.

WTO Rules and Food Reserves

World Trade Organization (WTO) rules governing agriculture do not actually make the operation of a grain reserve impossible, but they do create uncertainties. It is time for governments to think again about the framework for agricultural trade rules. 1. Financing a Reserve

Food Reserves In Practice

Growing government interest and support for food reserves has been evident in various international forums of late. At the same time, policymakers have been slow to act, reluctant to move away from twenty or more years of economic orthodoxy that has insisted supply shocks are best resolved through international trade alone.

What Next on Food Reserves?

The public debate on food reserves is shifting from an ideological discussion about markets versus public action to one focusing on the technical, political and institutional feasibility of a system of food reserves.

Seed industry promotes doubling of crop yields by 2030

In 2008, Monsanto launched a major public relations campaign to double crop yields in the U.S. by 2030. Recently, discussions in farm country have again picked up on this claim. It is worth examining the issues in depth.

Farmers’ new normal

Minneapolis, September 29, 2010* — The Minnesota River near Jordan is expected to reach its fifth-highest crest at 32.7 feet on Tuesday. Jordan and much of the rest of southern Minnesota were hit with some 10 inches of rain last week—flooding houses, farm fields, and shutting down highways and bridges.

NAFTA dumping on Mexican farmers

One of the most dramatic effects of deregulated trade has been an increase in agriculture dumping. In agriculture, dumping takes place when an agribusiness firm exports a crop—say, corn—at a price that is below what it costs the farmer to produce it.

So what kind of salmon does Uncle Sam want?

It almost seems preposterous to ask this question, but what type of salmon would you prefer to see on your plate: Genetically-modified Atlantic salmon, spliced with Pacific salmon growth gene and modulated by a regulator protein from an Ocean Pout; or Wild Sockeye from the pristine unpolluted waters of Bristol Bay, Alaska.  

Rethinking the fundamentals of food security

After a lull in public attention over the last couple of years, rising food prices are back in the spotlight. A spike in prices triggered in part by the Russian export ban, and a deadly food price riot in Mozambique have rekindled the debate on global food security.

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