Food politics

Question

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Answer 1

Sustainable food system

This piglix contains articles or sub-piglix about Sustainable food system

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Answer 2

Water and politics

This piglix contains articles or sub-piglix about Water and politics

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Answer 3

Slavery in the chocolate industry

This piglix contains articles or sub-piglix about Slavery in the chocolate industry

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Answer 4

2007–08 world food price crisis

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Answer 5

2020 Vision Initiative

The 2020 Vision Initiative in an initiative of the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). IFPRI launched the 2020 Vision Initiative in 1993; the primary goal of the initiative is to reach sustainable food security for all by 2020. The Initiative also supports the goals set at the World Food Summit in 1996, to halve the number of chronically undernourished people on the Earth by the year 2015.

The 2020 Vision Initiative has two primary objectives:

In May 2014, the next 2020 conference will be held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on the topic: Building Resilience for Food and Nutrition Security

Several international conferences have been held to date:

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Answer 6

Animal Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture

Animal genetic resources for food and agriculture are a subset of genetic resources (defined by the Convention on Biological Diversity as "genetic material of actual or potential value") and a specific element of agricultural biodiversity. The term animal genetic resources is often used to refer specifically to the genetic resources of avian and mammalian species used in or potentially used for food and agriculture purposes. The term "animal genetic resources for food and agriculture" is often shortened to "farm animal genetic resources" or simply "animal genetic resources" and sometimes referred to as "livestock biodiversity" or simply "livestock diversity".

Animal genetic resources can be embodied in live populations or in conserved genetic materials such as cryoconserved semen or embryos. The diversity of animal genetic resources includes diversity at species and breed and within-breed level. There are currently known to be some 8,800 different breeds within 38 species of birds and mammals that are currently used for food and agriculture. The main animal species used for food and agriculture production are cattle, sheep, goats, chickens and pigs. In the livestock world, these species are often referred to as "the big five". Some less-utilized species include the dromedary, donkey, bactrian camel, buffalo, guinea pig, horse, rabbit, yak, goose, duck, ostrich, partridge, pheasant, pigeon, and turkey.

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Answer 7

Antimicrobials in aquaculture

Antimicrobials destroy bacteria, viruses, fungi, algae, and other microbes. The cells of bacteria (prokaryotes), such as salmonella, differ from those of higher-level organisms (eukaryotes), such as fish. Antibiotics are chemicals designed to either kill or inhibit the growth of pathogenic bacteria while exploiting the differences between prokaryotes and eukaryotes in order to make them relatively harmless in higher-level organisms. Antibiotics are constructed to act in one of three ways: by disrupting cell membranes of bacteria (rendering them unable to regulate themselves), by impeding DNA or protein synthesis, or by hampering the activity of certain enzymes unique to bacteria.

Antibiotics are used in aquaculture to treat diseases caused by bacteria. Sometimes the antibiotics are used to treat diseases, but more commonly antibiotics are used to prevent diseases by treating the water or fish before disease occurs. While this prophylactic method of preventing disease is profitable because it prevents loss and allows fish to grow more quickly, there are several downsides.

The overuse of antibiotics can create antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Antibiotic-resistant bacteria can spontaneously arise when selective pressure to survive results in changes to the DNA sequence of a bacterium allowing that bacterium to survive antibiotic treatments. Because some of the same antibiotics are used to treat fish that are used to treat human disease, pathogenic bacteria causing human disease can also become resistant to antibiotics as a result of treatment of fish with antibiotics. For this reason, the overuse of antibiotics in treatment of fish aquaculture (among other agricultural uses) could create public health issues.

The issue has two sides. In some foreign countries, clean water supplies for aquaculture are extremely limited. Untreated animal manure and human waste are used as feed in shrimp farms and tilapia farms in China and Thailand, in addition to the collection of waste products accumulating from inadequate sewage treatment. In order to prevent the spread of bacteria and disease in contaminated water, some foreign fish farms put U.S.-banned antibiotics into their fishmeal. However, because the more stringent growing regulations in the US increase the price of food, imports from nations without these regulations are increasing based on price and profit.

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Answer 8

Ark of Taste

The Ark of Taste is an international catalogue of endangered heritage foods which is maintained by the global Slow Food movement. The Ark is designed to preserve at-risk foods that are sustainably produced, unique in taste, and part of a distinct ecoregion. Contrary to the most literal definition of plant and animal conservation, the Ark of Taste aims to maintain edibles in its purview by actively encouraging their cultivation for consumption. By doing so, Slow Food hopes to promote the growing and eating of foods which are sustainable and preserve biodiversity in the human food chain.

Foods included in the list are intended to be "culturally or historically linked to a specific region, locality, ethnicity or traditional production practice", in addition to being rare. Which foods meet these criteria is decided by an adjudicating committee made up of members of the Slow Food nonprofit organization; all candidates go through a formal nomination process which includes tastings and identification of producers within the region.

Since the foundation of the Ark in 1996, 800 products from over 50 countries have been included. The list includes not only prepared foods and food products, but also a great many breeds, as well as vegetable and fruit cultivars. All foods in the catalogue are accompanied by a list of resources for those wishing to grow or buy them.

The sources for the Italian section, unless other specified, are the lists selectable from ‘Ark of Taste’, Fondazione Slow Food per la Biodiversità.

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Answer 9

Battle for Grain

The Battle for Grain was an economic policy undertaken by the Fascists in Italy during the 1920s as a move toward autarky.

When Benito Mussolini took over as Prime Minister of Italy in 1922 the economy was in a bad state following World War I. Between 1922 and 1925, the financial and economic situation generally improved dramatically and this helped to increase the power of Italy, who strived to be one of the world's leading countries. But in order to continue their development Mussolini decided that Italy needed to become near enough self-sufficient rather than greatly relying upon foreign imports, particularly of grain. The way that this happened was through the "Battle for Grain".

The policy had a number of aims. These comprised:

The policy was first put into practice in 1925 when high tariffs were placed on imported bread in a similar way to the Corn Laws in Britain during the 19th century. By doing this they hoped that Italians would need to produce more of their own bread instead of relying on cheap imports. Land which had not been used for years and was infertile was now utilised, however it was very expensive to farm. The government also gave grants to those farmers who were producing crops to buy machinery and fertiliser.

The policy had both positive and negative effects for Italy. On the positive side, cereal production doubled from 1922 to 1939 and by 1940 they had become more or less self-sufficient at cereal production; wheat imports went down by 75% in the years 1925-1935. The increased protection on Italian crops was a benefit to the farmers and grain producers, especially the inefficient landowners in the poor south who were offered a guaranteed price for their crops.

However the rearing of animals and growing of vines (other vital aspects of agriculture) did not happen as much as a result of the focus on grain. The self-sufficiency did not stretch to fertilizers and this was a problem in World War II when imports of natural and chemical fertilizers were cut. The cost of bread to the everyday Italian rose sharply and the quality of their diet was reduced.

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Answer 10

Beef hormone controversy

The Beef Hormone Dispute is one of the most intractable agricultural controversies since the establishment of the World Trade Organization.

It was sometimes called the "beef war" in the media, similarly to the UK-EU Beef war over the mad cow disease issue, creating some confusion, since these two wars overlapped in time.

In 1989, the European Union banned the importation of meat that contained artificial beef growth hormones approved for use and administered in the United States. Originally, the ban covered six such hormones but was amended in 2003 to permanently ban one hormone —estradiol-17β — while provisionally banning the use of the five others. WTO rules permit such bans, but only where a signatory presents valid scientific evidence that the ban is a health and safety measure. Canada and the United States opposed this ban, taking the EU to the WTO Dispute Settlement Body. In 1997, the WTO ruled against the EU. The EU appealed the ruling.

The hormones banned by the EU in cattle farming were estradiol, progesterone, testosterone, zeranol, melengestrol acetate and trenbolone acetate. Of these, the first three are synthetic versions of endogenous hormones that are naturally produced in humans and animals, and also occur in a wide range of foods, whereas the last two are synthetic and not naturally occurring, which mimic the behaviour of endogenous hormones. Zeranol (alpha-zearalanol) is produced semi-synthetically, but it also occurs naturally in some foods. It is one of several derivatives of zearalenone produced by certain Fusarium. Although its occurrence in animal products can be partly due to its ingestion in such feeds, alpha-zearalanol can also be produced endogenously in ruminants that have ingested zearalenone and some zearalenone derivatives in such feeds. The EU did not impose an absolute ban. Under veterinary supervision, cattle farmers were permitted to administer the synthetic versions of natural hormones for cost-reduction and possibly therapeutic purposes, such as synchronising the oestrus cycles of dairy cows. All six hormones were licensed for use in the US and in Canada.

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