Tag Archives: Food policy

How international trade hits local farms and your grocery bill, with Josh Wise, Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy

Leave a reply
Deep Roots Radio
Deep Roots Radio
How international trade hits local farms and your grocery bill, with Josh Wise, Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy
Loading
/

NAFTA, TPP, TTIP – a puzzling alphabet soup of international policies that leave me scratching my head. What do they have to do with my farm – a 72-acre operation with a herd of 40 BueLingo beef cattle? How does international policy affect my very small family farm committed to 100% grass-fed beef, and sustainable practices, such as rotational grazing?

Our BueLingo cattle grazing lush pastures

How do these policies affect the operations and profitability of other small- to medium-scale family farms producing grains, vegetables, fruit or other livestock?

In this Deep Roots Radio interview, Josh Wise, Development and Communications Director for the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, outlines how international policies, such as the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) affect a family farm’s ability to compete in the local marketplace, and how this shows up in your grocery bill.

Headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and with offices Washington, D.C., IATP was founded during the farm crises of the mid-1980s. The organization works at the intersection of policy and practice to ensure fair and sustainable food, farm and trade systems. It is committed to advancing policy solutions—locally and globally—to some of the world’s most complex problems in order to promote resilient food, farm and trade systems, and the agriculture and trade policies that benefit farmers, ecosystems, and social justice.

Prior to joining IATP, Josh was the Executive Director of the Minnesota Fair Trade Coalition, and most recently the Executive Director of One Voice Mixed Chorus. While with MNFTC, Josh led the organizing and lobbying effort in the Midwest to oppose the fast track for TPP and the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP).

I hope you enjoy this interview.
Sylvia

The good, the bad, the absolutely ugly, and hope. US Senate Ag Committee approves DARK Act

It was interesting. This morning’s US Senate Ag Committee hearing was carried live on the Internet, and watching it was an education in and of itself. I, along with thousands of others (I hope) looked on as 20 committee members (Senators all) considered a proposal to amend the “Agricultural Marketing Act of 1946” that would establish a national voluntary labeling standard for bioengineered foods.
Transparency – that’s good.
Why the amendment? Because some businesses and elected officials want to make it illegal for any state to require GMO labeling on our food. So much for truth-in-labeling. It’s why this legislation has been dubbed the DARK Act (Deny Americans the Right-to-Know Act). That’s bad. Very bad.
Over the course of the hour-long hearing, I heard committee chair Sen. Pat Roberts say that about 625 organizations submitted letters supporting the amendment. No surprise. What he didn’t say is that over 4 million people have signed petitions demanding GMO labeling, and that poll after poll indicate 90% of those asked want GMO labeling.
That’s an absolutely ugly aspect of this issue: 625 organizations/corporations trump over 1.4 million individuals’ signatures. The amendment also seems to step all over state rights.
When Senator Roberts put the amendment to a voice vote, it was approved 14 to 6. Now titled Senate bill S-2609, will go to a vote by the full Senate as the companion to House bill HR-1599 which passed last year.
The fight’s not over. There’s another opportunity to demand transparency in food labeling. That’s hopeful.
Stay alert for next steps.
Sylvia

We have the right to know what's in our food.

We have the right to know what’s in our food.