National Food & Farm Resources
These documents are some of the newest expressions of U.S. food & farm justice — restoring the renewability of life in our communities and on our lands.
FOOD & FARM SYSTEMS DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC
“If the Global Food and Farm System could Talk, what would it say?” (April 4, 2020)
short essay by Rich Schell (Chicago-area lawyer–international food law, professor, activist)
If the global system could talk, it would say, “I need help now”:
— Healthy, productive farmers & food workers
— Preserve & protect key logistics
— Create resilience & redundancy with local food
— Preserve free trade & free movement of people across international borders
Gender, COVID-19, and Food Systems: Impacts, Community Responses, and Feminist Policy Demands
www.csm4cfs.org October 2020
Women’s Working Group of the Civil Society and Indigenous Peoples’ Mechanism (CSM) for relations with the UN’s Committee on World Food Security (CFS)
Authors: Jessica Duncan, Priscilla Claeys www.foodgovernance.com
Youth Demands for a Radical Transformation of our Food Systems
October 2020 http://www.csm4cfs.org
by Youth Working Group
Civil Society and Indigenous Peoples’ Mechanism for relations with the UN Committee on World Food Security
GREEN NEW DEAL
A “Green New Deal” for Farm & Food Policy (May 2019)
The Economic Pamphleteer
by John Ikerd
Professor emeritus of agricultural economics (Univ. of Missouri)
Two quotes:
“The Green New Deal provides an opportunity not only to proclaim Food Sovereignty as a new mandate for farm and food policy, but also to reclaim and recommit our government to its fundamental purpose of securing the rights of the people.”
“To claim that everyone has an equal right to everything of economic value could accurately be labeled as socialism. However, this is fundamentally different from the claim that everyone has an equal right to meet their basic human needs for clean air and water, healthy food, adequate housing, quality health care, and basic economic security.”
CARBON SEQUESTRATION
Healthy Soils to Cool the Planet: A Philanthropic Action Guide (2019)
“This guide focuses on philanthropic and investment opportunities to promote healthy soils and soil carbon sequestration (SCS) primarily through changes in agricultural practices in the United States and globally. It was produced by Breakthrough Strategies & Solutions, a consulting rm based in Takoma Park, Maryland.”
Very good overview (40+ pages) of the issues, the high-impact strategies, and many examples of current funders (with contact information).
FOOD-AND-FARM PLATFORMS
“2020 U.S. ELECTIONS: FOOD, FARMS, DEMOCRACY PLATFORM
Making the next U.S. Secretary of Agriculture an Election Issue — for all candidates and all voters”
The platform contains four sections:
—Talking about the next U.S. Secretary of Agriculture now—during election season—might make the U.S. food & farm movement more effective (now and later)
—Food & Farm Agenda for 21st century: Farmers + Eaters. Rural-Suburban-Urban
—Qualifications for Next U.S. Secretary of Agriculture
—Proposed Nominees for Next U.S. Secretary of Agriculture
The platform can be accessed in three ways:
—2-page printable PDF
—Blogpost on my website
Fact Sheet with links to platform
— Why now?
— What does the 2020 Food, Farms, Democracy platform do?
— What has created this “first time in 50 years” opportunity for U.S. food & farm policy?
2018: Regenerating our Democracy, our Habitats, Ourselves
A two-page platform for candidates, voters, and media.
Federal
Page 1 contains systemic policies and programs implementable at the federal level.
State + Local
Page 2 contains Illinois-specific goals and strategies, most of which can easily apply to other states, as well as to other jurisdictions (county, municipal, school district, etc.).
PARITY AGRICULTURE
Videos: 16th annual American Monetary Institute conference (Nov. 2020 — held virtually)
Video #9: Joe Bongiovanni — Nobel Laureate, Fredrick Soddy: Ecological Economics – on money and the Nature of wealth
Video #7: Joe Bongiovanni with Randy Cook — History of Parity Starting with the U.S. Constitution
Video #20: Tom Asbridge with Randy Cook — 20th Century Stories of How Parity Worked in the U.S.: How my View on Food and Fiber is Different than Yours
Video: Parity Money Creation (1 hour)
Presentation + Q&A at American Monetary Institute conference (Chicago, Oct. 4, 2019)
Presenters:
— Randy Cook: Michigan farmer, president of NORM (National Organization for Raw Materials)
— Tom Asbridge: North Dakota rancher, former Exec. Director of American Agriculture Movement
Website: Clarity on Parity
by George Naylor & Patti Edwardson Naylor (Iowa farmers & activists)
Fact Sheet: Parity Economics and Monetary Reform
Dec. 2020
2-page fact sheet by Randy Cook, President NORM with input from Parity Research Team of Alliance for Just Money
Fact Sheet: Parity Is, Parity Is Not
Presented at 15th Annual American Monetary Institute Conference
Oct. 3-6, 2019, Chicago
2-page fact sheet with Notes on the development of parity
Provided by the Parity Research Team of the Alliance for Just Money and NORM
Fact Sheet: Agricultural Parity, Trade Parity, and Monetary Reform: Maintaining Purchasing Power over Time
Chicago, 2018
2-page explainer prepared by AMI’s Parity Agriculture Committee
Convened by Geraldine Perry (author of Climate Change, Land Use, and Monetary Reform, 2015 book)
With expert input from Randy Cook, president – National Organization for Raw Materials (NORM)
A UNIFIED NATIONAL FOOD-AND-FARM VISION
USDA Listening Session 2017 – Coalition Statement to Chief Scientist
Soon after the 2016 general election, the Office of the USDA’s Chief Scientist organized a listening session, presumably for the new administration. Public comment was invited to provide a 50-year vision of U.S. food-and-farm systems for sustainable production. The listening session was held on March 2, 2017.
A coalition statement was written by four food-and-farm practitioners:
— Alexis Baden-Mayer, Organic Consumers Association (Washington, DC)
— Meg Hourigan, Hartford Advisory Commission on Food Policy (Connecticut)
— Liza Marron, San Luis Valley Local Foods Coalition (Colorado)
— Debbie Hillman, FoodFarmsDemocracy (Illinois)
Within two days, an additional 20 individuals and 18 organizations signed on to the statement, which was submitted to the Office of the Chief Scientist on March 9, 2017. The statement begins:
Visioning of United States Agricultural Systems for Sustainable Production
Over the next 50 years, U.S. agriculture must shift to diverse, resilient, adaptive and regenerative systems that mimic nature, stimulate healthy soils, restore ecosystems, benefit human health, ensure human safety, sustain just and livable employment at all points in the supply chain, increase biodiversity, and build communities of practice, to ensure the vitality of human health and local economies.
The complete 2-page statement (plus signatories) can be read here:
USDA Listening Session 2017 – Coalition Statement to Chief Scientist