Obama Enlists Major Powers to Aid Poor Farmers With $15 Billion

[Pirate Smile]

Source: The New York Times

L’AQUILA, Italy — President Obama has enlisted the world’s leading powers to contribute $15 billion to help millions of the world’s poorest farmers grow enough food to feed themselves, American officials said Wednesday.
If the assistance is delivered and is in fact mostly new money, it will constitute the largest international effort in decades to combat hunger by investing in the fundamentals of an agricultural economy, including seed, fertilizer, grain storage and research into new plant varieties.

With the ranks of the hungry expected to exceed a billion people this year, the undertaking has great urgency for the bulk of the world’s poor who still live in rural areas.
And it also signals a major change in the United States’ own approach to hunger, which has relied far more on shipping American-grown food to the starving than on helping them grow their own.

This aid package effectively recognizes the growing consensus among philanthropists, economists and African governments that efforts to reduce poverty on the continent are probably doomed without far greater investment in agriculture. While aid to educate the poor and keep them healthy is critical, so is helping millions of farmers grow more food and earn some income.

Mr. Obama, who has made improving the productivity of farmers in the developing world a top priority since taking office, lobbied other world leaders to join him in backing this venture during telephone conversations in recent weeks. Leaders from Italy and Japan, among others, also took the lead in forging a consensus. The resulting commitments, to be unveiled Friday, may be among the most tangible achievements of his first summit meeting with the Group of 8 powers, here in L’Aquila.

“We don’t need fancy computers to solve these problems,” Mr. Obama said in a recent interview with allAfrica.com, which distributes news from across the continent. “We need tried-and-true agricultural methods and technologies that are cheap and are efficient but could have a huge impact in terms of people’s day-to-day well-being.”



Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/09/world/europe/09food.html?src=twt&twt=nytimespolitics

[noamnety]

1. alarms going off in my head

"President Obama has enlisted the world’s leading powers to contribute $15 billion to help millions of the world’s poorest farmers grow enough food to feed themselves, American officials said Wednesday. If the assistance is delivered and is in fact mostly new money, it will constitute the largest international effort in decades to combat hunger by investing in the fundamentals of an agricultural economy, including seed, fertilizer, grain storage and research into new plant varieties."

---------------

Obama White House Appoints Former Monsanto Lobbyist to FDA: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x6018072

[BadgerKid]

2. +1 insightful. See "world's top ten seed companies = 55% of global market"

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x6019444

[earcandle]

3. But wait. teach them to fish... remember?

Michelle just showed everyone on TV and in DC how it is done. 
Children can do it. Its tedious, hard work, and hella fun. 

People will get off processed foods!  People will naturally
get more healthy.  This is the most progressive way to not
have to pay for some things that only feed off of disaster and
illnesses.  People can learn to share again with their
communities at a local level.  this will be good.  They should
allow at least hemp onto some farms.  My husband grew up some
of his earlier years on the farm and had to work hard to grow
food and manage animals, but this experience made him a
sincere and steadyfast man. I love him for these qualities and
a bunch of others too! 

[FrenchieCat]

6. Yep....we should not help folks feed themselves.....

cause that's such a bad idea!

Because you see, there's a boogeyman all ready to jump out and scare us.

Monsanto and anyone remotely associated with such = the devil in the White House.

Bugga, bugga! :scared:

[noamnety]

14. I didn't find this to be a helpful post.

I'm not sure if you've had a chance to see Food, Inc. yet, but I hope you will, if these are issues that are unfamiliar to you.

Basically, Monsanto patents the seeds so farmers become less self-sufficient, not more. They get sued if they try to save their own seed, which is a major part of being self-sufficient. And farmers who opt to avoid the patented seeds so they can save their own still get sued, because their crops still get pollinated by the patented plants in nearby fields and become the property of Monsanto.

One part of the solution (which Monsanto-run FDA won't entertain, guaranteed) is to hold Monsanto responsible for damages when their seeds infiltrate a farmer's field, instead of holding the farmers responsible for actions they have no control over - or better yet, accept that if they can't control the release of their patented genes into the environment, they lose rights/control over that material entirely. It's one reason why seeds shouldn't be allowed to have patents.

You can make sarcastic shallow comments about the situation, but the reality is that the actions of Monsanto are having a serious impact on the ability of farmers to be self-sufficient, it's destroying lives ... and Obama's administration is putting the people responsible for creating that situation in positions of power over those government agencies. I don't know why you think that's a joking matter.

[biermeister]

8. ding, ding, ding! we have a winner here!! nt.

[Javaman]

13. This is why it's very important for people to plant heirloom varieties and

to save their seeds.

our push for organic is being slowly and deliberately pushed off the cliff.

[Viva_La_Revolution]

17. This will be my first year of doing just that.

Cherokee, Green Zebra, Dixie Golden, Mortgage lifter, Black Prince and Black Krim. :)

[anonymous171]

15. Yeah, they should all just starve to death. nt

[noamnety]

16. Do you think there's another option

besides giving them no aid or giving them Monsanto-style aid?

[snooper2]

21. You really think Monsanto is going to sue some poor farmer

in South Africa working about an acre of land

:rofl: :rofl:

Monsanto is going to take over food supply of the WORLD!!!!!!!! :rofl: wasn't that supposed to happen 20 years ago per
"predictions" :rofl:

[noamnety]

23. It wouldn't surprise me at all

because the effects of that lawsuit would be widespread, they wouldn't impact just that one farmer and one acre. They use the same strategy as terrorists in some ways, taking action against one farmer to cause fear in surrounding farmers and get them into line. The one farmer would easily be bankrupted after one day of legal fees ... and Monsanto's "mission" would be accomplished. That's how they work in this country; I'm not sure why you think it would be different elsewhere.

Currently Monsanto controls more than 20% of the global proprietary seed market, more than any other company. http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x6019444

Easy to laugh about if it affects people on the other side of the world living in poverty. Their starvation is not your problem - therefore cause for much humor, eh?

[humus]

24. lost our footing on the land

http://www.opednews.com/articles/Raids-on-Seeds-life-itsel-by-Linn-Cohen-Cole-081215-45.html

Shortly after someone broke into Mr. Hixon's office and he found his account book on his truck seat where he would never have left it, evey one of his remotely located and very scattered customers had three men (described as goons with "no necks") arrived at each farm, going out onto it without permission, and serving close to 200 farmers. Mr. Hixon and state police who were called in, believe a GPS tracking device may have been put on Mr. Hixon's equipment. All of his customers being sued and are being intensely pressured to settle, with the men coming back again and again and with daily calls and letters. It appears they are being a choice between being sued or settling out of court or testifying against him that he encouraged them to clean GE-seeds.

Monsanto has made a fortune on those kinds of Mafia extortion settlements since no one has the money to stand up to them and paying them off some huge amount even if the farmer has done nothing, saves them from legal costs they can't possibly manage and then a potentially worse fate as one little local lawyer goes up against not one but multiple legal teams working for Monsanto and present in court.

The first words out of the judge's mouth when Moe Parr, a seed cleaner in Indiana was sued, were "It's a honor to have a fine company like Monsanto in my courtroom."

In addition to the personal attacks on seed cleaners, Monsanto is getting laws put into place that themselves are overwhelming and destructive of seed cleaners and all those who save normal seeds.

http://www.ethicalinvesting.com/monsanto/news/10040.htm

If Monsanto can eliminate seed cleaners, they would have accomplished a TOTAL monopoly in the Midwest, the bread basket of the world, and they would control world food, feed and now bio-fuel prices at will. They would, as well, have broken the fragile dam that seed cleaners and seed bankers now provide against the insanely-fast and just plain insane on-coming tide genetic engineering.


And Monsanto is working closely with the FDA in redefining seeds as a potential health hazard, subject to bioterrorism, and under that rubric to create rules for importation (controlling access)

[conspirator]

29. You are not using your brain are you? Monsanto will not sue just ONE single farmer

That's not how they work. They will sue MULTIPLE poor farmers to bankrupcy an steal their COMBINED land. That's how land developers work or in this case filthy corporations. That's how land is stolen from the native population piece by piece acre by acre.

[noamnety]

30. That's true, I should have added it in my post

They have a staff of 75 people devoted entirely to suing farmers. It's part of their business plan.

[DCKit]

18. No kidding. The money always goes back to corporations and to encourage unsustainable practices.

Dog forbid we use funds to teach sustainable agriculture/permaculture and fight for the reforestation of countries like El Salvador (which used to be forested).

It's just too hard to do it right, so we'll deplete their soils and ecosystems for the short-term gains in productivity instead and stave off the inevitable, complete collapse for another decade.

[midnight]

26. Very worrisom. Didn't Monsanto sell Africa seeds that

caused a disaster this year? Good lord, what is our President doing?

[conspirator]

28. The farmers will have to sign contracts with MONSANTO. And probably receive defective seeds

help and monsanto are words that don't go together well

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

4. I must be up too late. Thought "Major Powers" was a person.

Like Sargeant Slaughter, or something.

[Tim01]

5. I wonder if he has been hanging out with the head of Monsanto?

Cause a problem, then charge people for a bad solution.

Maybe the world really is on the brink. I would have thought it was all nonsense a few years ago.

[FrenchieCat]

7. Didn't know that Obama caused this.

See, one learns something new every damn fucking day!

[Tim01]

10. I was just kind of kidding when I wrote that, I didn't know it was true.

Obama just made a former lobbyist for Monsanto part of the FDA.

Monsanto has cornered the market on farm food seeds. In poor Africans countries the farmers save some of the seeds they get in food aid to plant their own crops with.
Monsanto has threatened legal retaliation against everyone if the poor farmers don't start buying their seeds instead.

Monsanto pretty much is satan.

I was going to go back and put curse words all through my post so it looked more like your post I am responding to, but the facts are offensive enough on their own.

[Arkana]

27. He also shot my mother and gave my dog rabies.

That BASTARD.

[JohnyCanuck]

9. Here are some tips for Major Powers on increasing agricultural productivity

International Panel of 400 Agricultural Scientists Call for Fundamental Change in Farming Practice.

A fundamental change in farming practice is needed to counteract soaring food prices, hunger, social inequities and environmental disasters. Genetically modified (GM) crops are highly controversial and will not play a substantial role in addressing the challenges of climate change, loss of biodiversity, hunger and poverty. Instead, small-scale farmers and agro-ecological methods are the way forward; with indigenous and local knowledge playing as important a role as formal science. Furthermore, the rush to grow crops for biofuels could exacerbate food shortages and price rises.

These are the conclusions to the most thorough examination of global agriculture, on a scale comparable to the Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change. Its final report, The International Assessment of Agricultural Science and Technology for Development (IAASTD), was formally launched at a plenary in Johannesburg, South Africa on 15 April 2008 <1-3> and simultaneously released in London, Washington, Delhi, Paris, Nairobi and a number of other cities around the world.

The IAASTD is a unique collaboration initiated by the World Bank in partnership with a multi-stakeholder group of organisations, including the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation, United Nations Development Programme, United Nations Environmental Programme, the World Health Organisation and representatives of governments, civil society, private sector and scientific institutions from around the world <2>. The actual report runs to 2 500 pages, and has taken more than 400 scientists 4 years to complete.

In one mighty stroke, it has swept aside years of corporate propaganda that served as a major diversion from urgent task of implementing sustainable food production for the world. As UK’s Daily Mail editorial commented <4>: “For years, biotech companies have answered critics by insisting genetically modified crops are essential to bringing down food prices and feeding the world's hungry. Well, now we know they’re not.”

Continued at:
http://www.i-sis.org.uk/GMFreeOrganicAgriculture.php

And even more tips at:
http://www.i-sis.org.uk/susag.php

[izquierdista]

11. And even more tips

Develop the "lost" crops that are native to the area:
Grains -- http://www.nap.edu/openbook.php?isbn=0309049903
Vegetables -- http://books.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=11763
and Fruits -- http://www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=11879

[Tim01]

12. Oh, you mean instead of insisting they plant Monsanto products?

Good idea.

But I don't think your idea that makes sense, is in the game plan.

[DCKit]

19. We eat the diet we do ONLY because our crops are suited to corporate agriculture...

not because it's the best diet available. In the meantime, valuable heritage crops are becoming increasingly rare, we're being fed supplements to make up the nutritional difference and, in the meantime, poisoning the food and water supplies with fertilizers, herbicides and pesticides. Besides, what poor, third world farmers can afford the equipment of fuel for "our" methods of factory farming?

If you don't understand the implications of Monsanto's actions, our governments stance on the patenting of genetic material and what will happen corporations control the food supply from seed to processed product, you should check the above links. Without some understanding of the subject, your posts are simply uninformed opinion.

We have got to change the way we grow our food, or there will be mass causalities. Series.

[Tim01]

20. I am sorry you totally didn't get what I was saying. I'll try harder.

I know about Monsanto and what a monster they are.
But I think our leader is on their team.

Monsanto being enabled and encourage by the world governments now, with the help of Obama. Pretty much worst case scenario.

[DCKit]

22. That was my ^ previous post. The money inevitably flows back to corporations.

The only way to make a lasting difference is to teach sustainable agriculture.

Even if we don't run out of oil for hundreds of years, our current way of farming is too expensive, unhealthy and too damaging.

[Wednesdays]

25. K&R

:kick: