A coalition of farm worker organizations, small farmers and native communities has rallied together in Argentina to focus attention on the government’s land-holding laws and local food policies.
According to the Latin America Press, the National Campesino Front (FNC) was created in April to advocate for government policies that favor indigenous and farm communities over multinational corporations.
At issue is the purchase of Argentinean land by corporations that cut down millions of acres of native forest in order to cultivate genetically modified soy — most of which is exported as animal feed.
The country is now the world’s second-largest producer of biotech soy.
Critics say that the policies that came with the push for soy have resulted in farmers being “kicked off” their land — and call for policies that support biodiversity, resource conservation and land reform.
–Julia Hengst/Newsdesk.org
Source:
“The National Campesino Front”
Latin America Press, July 24, 2008