Neoliberalism ruins farmers, agriculture worldwide

["Fred Feldman" <ffeldman@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

From: "Tony" <worldview@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>

Subject: [C-I] Millions of farmers ruined by neoliberalism

Millions of farmers ruined by neoliberalism
? Transnationals are flooding the market with cheap and subsidized
products,
U.S. professor Peter Rosset denounces in Havana ? Some 2,000 farmers
go
bankrupt each week in the United States

?


FALLING prices in the developing countries? exports of farm produce
and the
ruin of millions of farmers are the pernicious outcome of neoliberal
policies, highlighted U.S. professor Peter Rosset from the U.S.
Institute of
Food and Development ? known as Food First ? during a meeting on
organic
agriculture in Havana.

Rosset commented that transnationals are flooding the market with
cheap and
subsidized food and driving millions of farmers to bankruptcy, not
just in
the developing world but also within the industrialized nations.

He explained how in the United States, reports register an average
weekly
bankruptcy rate of 2,000 producers, who are then obliged to mortgage
their
properties. Faced with the impossibility of receiving payment, banks
are
taking over the farmers¹ lands and leasing them to the transnationals.

This phenomenon is likewise present in Europe where it is calculated
that
some 400 farmers have to sell their properties each week, affirmed the
First
Food representative. In Latin America, poverty is devastating the
rural
areas and millions of campesinos are migrating to the cities due to
their
products¹ falling prices on the international market.

Cuba is one of the only nations in the world that, with state aid, is
making
advances in the framework of these inevitable changes in human
subsistence,
in Rosset¹s opinion. He considers the island to be a beacon of organic
agriculture at an international level as it has all the essential
conditions
for organic farming: access to land and an organized population.

Regarding U.S. agricultural development, Rosset thinks that it has
become
trapped in conventional methods, whilst organic farming is maintaining
a
growth of 20% per year.

The Food First representative clarified that urban agriculture is
growing in
the United States and is developing in marginalized areas where the
practice
is helping alleviate unemployment and poverty. These urban farmers are
fighting to rescue their own special space.

SIN TIERRA MOVEMENT COLLABORATION WITH CUBAN POLYTECHNICS

Julio César Vasconcelos, the leader of Brazil¹s Sin Tierra Movement
(MST),
explained that a system of internal education and technical training
has
been organized within the favelas and cooperation has been established
with
Cuba¹s polytechnic centers.

Through persistent struggle, the MST has received eight million
hectares
supporting 3,000 favelas and a population of almost one million
inhabitants.

Vasconcelos stressed that the deteriorated quality of this land means
that
it does not yield produce if conventional methods are used, but
harvests
have improved since the introduction of the agri-ecology movement and
organic methods.

He informed that they had worked to produce ecological seeds with the
Bionature company. He thanked the island for its collaboration,
highlighting
that 40 young Brazilians are studying medicine in Cuba and after
graduation,
will be caring for MST members. ?


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MONSANTO APPROPRIATES SOY MONOPOLY

THE European Patents Office has conceded the exclusive monopoly on all
genetically modified soy seeds to the U.S. transnational Monsanto,
without
taking into account either the genes used or the methods employed,
denounced
Dr. Ismael Clark, president of the Cuban Academy of Science, in a
speech to
the 5th National Meeting on Urban Agriculture in Havana.

The decision ignored nine years of protest for the patent to be
revoked.
Defenders of food security organizations considered that the rights
conceded
to the genetic giant should be annulled, as soy is one of the most
consumed
foods in the world.

Dr. Clark observed that when Monsanto did not own the patent, it
called it
improper. However once it won exclusive rights by buying up another
company,
it reclaimed the monopoly on soy and has now been endorsed by the
European
Patents Office.

Monsanto markets 91% of the genetically modified seeds sold on the
world
market. European protest movements have demonstrated against the
monopoly
that legitimizes the exclusivity of one the world¹s most utilized
beans.

The Cuban Academy of Science president called on the international
scientific community to condemn this unjust decision that flies in the
face
of human rights.


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