
In a new interview with the Worldwatch Institute, small-scale farming advocate and author Raj Patel makes his arguments about why he considers industrial, for-profit agriculture to be incompatible with food sovereignty. Read the full interview – and read more about USC’s work on Food Sovereignty in our 2010 issue of Jottings.

On a trip to Ethiopia in November 2009, journalist David Kattenburg visited one of the world’s great champions of farmers’ rights – and founder our Seeds of Survival Program – Melaku Worede. You can listen to a 30-minute interview with Melaku at Kattenburg’s website, Green Planet Monitor.

August 12 was International Youth Day – a day of celebration for youth, but also a great opportunity for these future stewards of our fragile planet to take action to help make the planet a healthier place. But that doesn’t mean the rest of us get to take it easy. Read More…

A controversial leaked report by the World Bank exposes exploitation with programs that promote investment in agricultural lands, particularly in poorer nations. The report says investors are largely incapable or unwilling to use the land productively. Read More…

A new report from International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Application (ISAAA) suggests the global food crisis has prompted an expansion of genetically modified crops, especially in developing countries. But read on to the end of this story and you’ll learn of another report, released by Friends of the Earth on the same day. This second report challenges these claims of success and offers its own data. Read the full article here.