Connexions Resource Centre
Focus on Agriculture and Farming
Recent & Selected Articles
This is a small sampling of articles related to education and children in the Connexions Online Library. For more articles, books, films, and other resources, check the Connexions Library Subject Index, especially under topics such as
agriculture,
agriculture/ecology,
farming/farm economy,
and food.
- Why We Left Our Farms to Come to Copenhagen (December 7, 2009)
Climate change is already seriously impacting us. It brings floods, droughts and the outbreak of pests that are all causing harvest failures. I must point out that these harvest failures are something that the farmers did not create. Instead, it is the polluters who caused the emissions who destroy the natural cycles. So, we small scale farmers came here to say that we will not pay for their mistakes. And we are asking the emitters to face up to their responsibilities.
- Connexions Archive seeks a new home (November 18, 2009)
The Connexions Archive, a Toronto-based library dedicated to preserving the history of grassroots movements for social change, needs a new home.
- Argentina: Disappearing Farmers, Disappearing Food (October 29, 2009)
Food sovereignty as defined by Via Campesina is the peoples’ right to define their agricultural and food policy, and the right of farmers and peasants to produce food. Worldwide communities are seeking an alternative to a model controlled by Cargill, Monsanto, General Foods, Nestle and Kraft foods. Starved by industrialization and concentration, citizens are now hungry for traditional production methods and diversity in the food system.
- Guinea Pigs Spell Independence for Women (October 2, 2009)
Raising guinea pigs has become an important means for Peruvian women to earn money to support their families, as well as to learn how to defend their rights.
- Farmers vs Coca-Cola in Water Wars (October 1, 2009)
As India faces its worst drought in four decades, a dispute over water resources between farmers in the Kala Dera area of western Rajasthan state and a Coca-Cola bottling plant located there has sharpened.
- Farmers in Palestine create amazing produce in adverse conditions – and are fighting to export them (September 13, 2009)
Palestine produces some of the finest olive oils in the world, not to mention dates, nuts, tomatoes – even wine. Now, despite the conflict, farmers are finding ways to export their produce – and show the world that their country is still the land of milk and honey.
- From villages to New Delhi to Geneva: Indian farmers protest against the WTO (September 8, 2009)
The "liberalization" and “corporatization” of agriculture under the World Trade Organisation would put at risk the livelihoods of more than 2/3 of India’s 1 billion people.
- Food Among the Ruins (August 1, 2009)
Detroit, the country’s most depressed metropolis, has zero produce-carrying grocery chains. It also has open land, fertile soil, ample water, and the ingredients to reinvent itself from Motor City to urban farm.
- Urban Honey (2009)
In the winter of 2003, three Chicago beekeepers joined forces to create a bee farm on the former Sears-Roebuck property right in the heart of our city. We abut an old railroad embankment wall with both prairie remnant and concrete in equal amounts.
- The Lessons of Amish Agriculture (1987)
Amish agriculture offers valuable eco-lessons to those interested in organic, earth-friendly farming.
Selected Websites and Organizations
This is a small sampling of organizations and websites concerned with education and children in the Connexions Directory. For more organizations and websites, check the Connexions Directory Subject Index, especially under topics such as
agriculture,
agriculture/ecology,
farming/farm economy,
and food.
Other Links & Resources
Books, Films and Periodicals
This is a small sampling of books related to education and children in the
Connexions Online Library. For more books and other resources, check the Connexions Library
Subject Index, especially under topics such as
agriculture,
agriculture/ecology,
farming/farm economy,
and food.
- Climate Change and World Agriculture
Author: Parry, Martin
- Cotton: The peril and the promise
New Internationalist April 2007
A look at the cotton industry in India and how it is affecting the workers. Discusses alternatives to cotton and sustainability.
- The End of Food
How the Food Industry is Destroying Our Food And - What You Can Do About It
Author: Pawlick, Thomas
- Farmageddon
Food and the Culture of Biotechnolgy
Author: Kneen, Brewster
- The Food Wars
Author: Bello,Walden
Walden Bello presents an analysis of the various causes of hikes in global food prices and their effects on poverty in the countries of the global South.
- A History of World Agriculture
From the Neolithic Age to the Current Crisis
Author: Mazoyer, Marcel; Roudart, Laurence
Begins with the emergence of agriculture after thousands of years in which human societies had depended on hunting and gathering, showing how agricultural techniques developed in the different regions of the world.
- How EC and World Bank Policies Are Destroying Agriculture And The Environment
A European and Third World Perspective
Author: Bond, Jack W
Bond argues that bureaucrats, multinationals and banks lack the compassion and commitement to help farmers, consumers and the enviromment, and emerging nations of the South.
- Los Mexicanos: The Struggle for Justice of Patricia Perez
Author: Latour, Charles (Director)
Every year, some 4000 migrant foreign workers coming mostly from Mexico, labour in Quebec farms to plant and pick our vegetables. In the summer of 2006, Patricia Perez a pro-union militant speaking for the UFCW, launches a major drive to organize the workers in several farms south of Montreal.
- Pesticides Pick your poison The pesticide scandal
New Internationalist May 2000
Exposing the dangers of pesticide usage, in both third and first world communities. Why this "cycle of poison" will keep escalating as crops develop resistance. Discussion of viable alternatives, including organic food production and small farms.
- Rise Up Singing
Author: Blood-Patterson, Peter
There was a time when singing was a part of everyday life. Rise Up Singing was compiled to help bring song back into our lives, and especially to bring singing more strongly into the movement for social change.
- Stolen Harvest
The Hijacking of the Global Food Supply
Author: Shiva, Vandana
The author, an eco-feminist and environmentalist, documents the effects of Globalization and Manufactured Foods on small farmers, the environment, and the food we eat.
- Sugar The sugar trap
New Internationalist December 2003
A look into sugar as a consumer product and its corporate globalization. Discusses trade and business of sugar, its history with slavery as well as its effects on the body.
- Vincenzo Pietropaolo: Witness to the Harvest Pilgrims
Author: UFCW Canada (Director)
Vincenzo Pietropaolo has documented the story of Mexican migrant workers over a number of years. This is a brief look into that story.
- The War in the Country
How the Fight to Save Rural Life Will Shape Our Future
Author: Pawlick, Thomas F.
Chronicles the gradual disappearance of Canada's family farms.
- What Difference Could a Revolution Make?
Food and Farming in The New Nicarauga
Author: Collins, Joseph; with Lappe, Moore Frances; and Allen, Nick
Reports on the dramatic changes brought by the first three years of the Sandinista revolution.
Learning from our History
Coming soon
Resources for Activists
The Connexions Calendar - An event calendar for activists.
Media Names & Numbers - A comprehensive directory of Canada's print and broadcast media. (CX5857).
Sources - A directory that enables journalists to find spokespersons of organizations. Organizations that list themselves in Sources signficantly increase their odds of getting called by reporters when they are doing a story of their issues..
