April 24-26, 2000, Hilton Hotel, Minneapolis
North, 2200 Freeway Blvd.
April 18, 2000,
NEW YORK – “Agriculture, Food Security
and Globalization: The Impact on Rural Sustainability,” a three-day study session
in Minneapolis sponsored by the Agricultural Missions Program Ministry of Church World
Service/National Council of Churches, will bring together 65 local, national and
international participants to examine the continuing global crisis among small and family
farms while at the same time exploring strategies and solutions to the crisis.
Four
Minneapolis-based organizations are hosting the meeting: Land Stewardship Project, Institute for Agricultural
and Trade Policy, Minnesota Food Association, and Minneapolis Council of Churches. These groups are contributing presenters and
events, including a field trip to two local
farms practicing sustainable farming methods on Tuesday,
April 25 from 8:30 a.m. - 1:30 p.m.
In keeping with the spirit and content of
the session, meeting organizers encouraged the Hilton Hotel to work with a supplier of
locally produced foods, Whole Farm Co-op, and
to redesign its menu to include these foods. “The
hotel found it could do this without having to increase its prices, proving our point that
alternatives do not have to be more expensive, and people will be eating high quality
organic foods,” said Eva Jensen, NCC Agricultural Missions Director.
“The
presentations, discussions and field trip will all help participants to understand the
common struggle small and family farms are experiencing the world over,” Ms. Jensen
said. “We will have 10 international
guests as well as several local Native American presenters exploring the connections
between local food security and global agri-businesses, marketing systems and trade
policies. There is a clear link between these
issues and the economic well being of real men, women and children in rural communities.”
Ms. Jensen
stressed the focus on alternatives. “Often
the rural and family farm issue is presented as the crisis that it is, but without
pointing to real options and alternatives that exist,” she said. “This makes it appear as if the
industrialization of agriculture is inevitable when in fact there are a lot of innovative
and successful models of local sustainability and food security. We will be observing some of the Minnesota-based
alternatives which are doing watershed work supporting farmers, encouraging sustainable
practices, linking rural and urban communities, and
addressing a wide range of environmental and economic concerns.”
A session on “International Perspectives on Agriculture and
Food Security,” to be held April 25,
7:15-9:30 p.m., will include experiences and perspectives from El Salvador, Ghana,
Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico, Sri Lanka, and Trinidad. Other
sessions will explore the ethical, moral and theological questions related to the
production and distribution of food within the global system and the education and
advocacy role of the churches in these issues. An
April 26, 8:30-10 a.m. session on “Local Advocacy and Action and Congregational
Experiences and Perspectives” will include Protestant, Catholic, Jewish and (by
affiliation) Muslim participants.
Agricultural
Missions is a program ministry of CWS/NCC whose mission is to facilitate sustainable
models of development by supporting the efforts of grass roots and non-governmental
organizations in Africa, Asia, Latin America the Caribbean and the United States.
-end-
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