Understanding of our links with developing world through food
According to a quote on the Seed Savers website, ‘a lot of the food we eat is grown by people we don't know, who live far away and are affected by factors we have no control over’. Indeed, too often the media presents scenarios where Irish interests are seen to collide with those of the people in the developing world (e.g. the panic felt by Irish farmers during WTO talks last summer when their heavily protected industry may have been challenged by increased imports of agricultural goods). What LASC wishes to highlight is the potential for “win win” solutions, that is, increased food sovereignty for both Ireland and Latin America, which would enable food security (that is enough food grown locally to both protect from global price fluctuations and transport emergencies), sustainable land use, culturally specific and appropriate food consumption. LASC would like both individuals and organisations who work in the area of sustainable or locally produced food (what LASC has termed the food movement), to have a clear understanding of both the realities of the lives of the people who go hungry while food is exported from their countries to feed us and what they can do to create a system in which we all feel connected to the source of our food.
