Editorial
GRAIN has been around since 1990, and to celebrate this we have devoted most of this issue of Seedling to looking at how we – and the issues that we deal with – have changed over this period. To mark the occasion, we have also altered our design into one that we feel is modern, practical and pleasing to the eye.Twenty years of fighting for seeds and food sovereignty
A twentieth anniversary invites reflection. Reflection on where we came from, the path we have travelled, and the challenges ahead. Without pretending to provide a full analysis, we present below some discussion on this. In the process, we have talked to many of the people who have accompanied us over the last two decades, and asked them about the paths that they have taken, and for their reflections on the struggle for a better food system and a better world. Some of their responses are included in the text and accompanying boxes.
Global agribusiness: two decades of plunder
We offer a brief overview of the expansion of agribusiness in the global food system in the past two decades, with some thoughts on what we can expect from these companies in the years ahead.
Haiti’s farmers call for a break with neoliberalism
Peasant organisations in Haiti are angry at the Haitian authorities for allowing multinational donors and corporations to take advantage of the post-earthquake reconstruction programme to deepen the country’s reliance on the outside world. They are calling instead for a radical programme of agricultural reconstruction, to rebuild the country’s ravaged peasantry and bring about food sovereignty.
Seeds
“Miracle crop” not so miraculous after all, The colony of Puerto Rico, We haven’t seen anything yet …., and, Clan fights to save sacred sites.