Why the food movement needs to understand capitalism

http://climateandcapitalism.com/2018/07/11/why-the-food-movement-needs-to-understand-capitalism
Date Written:  2018-07-11
Publisher:  Climate & Capitalism
Year Published:  2018
Resource Type:  Article
Cx Number:  CX22810

To fully appreciate the challenges we face in transforming our food system we need to explore the economic and political context in which food is grown, sold and consumed in the world today.

Abstract: 
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Excerpt:

Does the food movement need to understand capitalism?

The answer of course is yes. Everyone trying to change the food system -- people fighting to end hunger, food insecurity, and diet-related diseases, as well as those working for equitable and sustainable agriculture and people who simply want access to good, healthy food -- needs to know about capitalism. Why? Because we have a capitalist food system. And yet, relatively few people recognize this.

This seems odd, particularly for those who identify with the food movement. After all, one wouldn’t start farming without some notion of growing plants, or build a website without knowledge of web software, or roof a house without understanding construction. Yet many, if not most, food activists trying to change the food system have scant knowledge of its capitalist foundations.

In part, this is because most people in the food movement are too busy trying to deal with the immediate problems of the food system. Understandably, they concentrate their efforts on one or two issues rather than the system as a whole, such as healthy food access, urban agriculture, organic farming, community-supported agriculture, local food, farmworkers' rights, animal welfare, pesticide contamination, seed sovereignty, GMO labeling…the list is long. These projects are often funded by philanthropic foundations favoring projects that address urgent problems and organizations that can demonstrate tangible, quantifiable results.