Synopses & Reviews
Peter Rosset argues that what is at stake is the very future of our global food system, of each country's unique agricultural and farming systems, and the livelihoods of rural people in both the rich industrial countries and the South. He unravels the complex ways in which agriculture in the North is supported, subsidized etc. and argues for the future of agriculture to be taken completely out of the WTO's ambit since food is not just another commodity, but something which goes to the heart of human livelihood, local cultures and national security.
Review
"Rosset, a food rights activist and rural development specialist, has written a clear and extremely accessible account of the impact of trade liberalisation on farming and, more particularly, on small farmers throughout the world."-- Grain.org
Synopsis
Why does our global food system gives us expensive, unhealthy and bad-tasting food, where we pay more for packaging and long-distance shipping than we do for the food itself? Why do farmers and peasants from around the world lead massive protests each and every time the World Trade Organization meets?
Peter Rosset explains how the runaway free trade policies and neoliberal economics of the WTO, American government and European Union kill farmers, and give us a food system that nobody outside of a small corporate elite wants. This essential guide sets out an alternative vision for agricultural policy, taking it completely out of the WTO's ambit. Food is not just another commodity, to be bought and sold like a microchip, but something which goes to the heart of human livelihood, culture and society.
Synopsis
Peter Rosset argues that what is at stake is the very future of our global food system, of each country's unique agricultural and farming systems, and the livelihoods of rural people in both the rich industrial countries and the South. He unravels the complex ways in which agriculture in the North is supported, subsidized etc. and argues for the future of agriculture to be taken completely out of the WTO's ambit since food is not just another commodity, but something which goes to the heart of human livelihood, local cultures and national security.
About the Author
Peter M. Rosset is based in Oaxaca, Mexico, where he is a researcher at the Centro de Estudios para el Cambio en el Campo Mexicano and co-coordinator of the Land Research Action Network, or LRAN.
Table of Contents
Prologue: Speak the Truth: Exclude the WTO from Agriculture, by Lee Kyung Hae
Foreword: Farmers Around the World Lose out Under the WTO, by George Naylor
Introduction: Trade versus Development?
1. Trade Negotiations and Trade Liberalization
2. Key Issues, Misconceptions, Disagreements and Alternative Paradigms
3. Dumping and Subsidies: Unravelling the Confusion
4. The Impacts of Liberalized Agricultural Trade
5. Alternatives for a Different Agriculture and Food System
Conclusion - Another Food System is Possible
Special Topics:
How the WTO Rules Agriculture
Government Negotiating Blocs
Where European and American Family Farmers Stand
Where Peasant and Family Farm Organizations Stand
Food from Family Farms Act: a Proposal for the 2007 US Farm Bill
For a Legitimate, Sustainable and Supportive CAP
People's Food Sovereignty Statement