The Food System
Back Down to Earth!
The Big Picture
In many countries of the global South, the best agricultural land is used to grow crops destined for export markets. These are often luxuries or inedible crops like cotton, tobacco, coffee, sugar, cacao for chocolate, or hops for beer.
Local communities often have little choice but to grow their own food on marginal lands and, despite their skill and knowledge, don’t always have enough to eat. Farm workers who grow export crops find their income dependent on prices that shift drastically based on economic changes half a world away.
Around the world, farmers and their communities are questioning a global system of industrialized farming. They’re working to establish Food Sovereignty.
| “Food security is the government making sure there is enough in the stores whether people can afford to buy it or not. Food Sovereignty is people with the ability to grow their own food and feed themselves.” ~Luisa Gomez, Honduran farmer. |
The Local Picture
When a community has Food Sovereignty, the farmers and other residents control what and how food is produced and consumed. Choices remain in community hands, serving the interests of that community. It’s the foundation of a healthy local food economy, leading to stable livelihoods for food producers, processors, and distributors.
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In Honduran highlands, peasant farmers work steep hillside slopes, far from the fertile coastal plains where commercial plantations produce banana and pineapple for export. Every June, these farmers experience “hunger weeks,” when food reserves run out before crops are ready to harvest. USC is supporting innovative, farmer-led research teams here as they restore heritage seed varieties and improve yields. While respecting local ecosystems, farmers have produced larger harvests, varied crops, and nutritious diets. And “hunger weeks” have dropped to just a few days. |
