Global InformationFood Justice Movement information
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The Food Justice Movement is a grassroots initiative which emerged in response to food insecurity and economic pressures that prevent access to healthy, nutritious, and culturally appropriate foods.[1] The food justice movement moves beyond increasing food availability and works to address the root cause of unequal access to adequate nutrition. Like other Environmental Justice initiatives, the Food Justice Movement advocates for rights-based solutions that identify the underlying human rights that allow individuals to achieve adequate food security and nutrition. This differs from policy-based solutions that focus on food availability and affordability by increasing food production or lowering the cost of food.[2]
Food justice addresses various issues such as the ability to grow or purchase healthy food, diet-related health disparities, unequal access to land, and inadequate wages and working conditions in agriculture.[3]
Food justice recognizes the food system as "a racial project and problematizes the influence of race and class on the production, distribution and consumption of food".[1] This encompasses farm labor work, land disputes, issues of status and class, environmental justice, public politics, and advocacy.[1][4]
Food justice is closely connected to food security and food sovereignty. Food justice is closely connected to food security and food sovereignty. According to Anelyse M. Weiler, Professor of Sociology at University of Victoria, “Food security is commonly defined as existing ‘when all people, at all times, have physical, social and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food which meets their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life’” Food sovereignty includes similar principles but differs from food security in that, “Food sovereignty involves a broader vision than food security, asserting communities’ power to democratically manage productive food system resources such as land, water and seeds, and to engage in trade on their own terms rather than being subjected to speculation through international commodity markets.”[5] Food sovereignty advocates for a shift from corporate-controlled food systems to local food systems.[6]
One component of food sovereignty is farmworker justice. Anna Erwin, Professor of Environmental Social Sciences explained some of the challenges that farmworkers who, “traditionally make low wages, have higher levels of food insecurity than the general U.S. population, and work regularly in dangerous conditions.”[7] Many farmworkers in the United States are undocumented immigrants who are less likely to mobilize against unfair working conditions out of fear of deportation and loss of. Farmworker justice highlights the important role of farmworkers in food systems and necessitates farmworker rights to ensure their continued ability to feed themselves, contribute to the global food supply, and protect the environment.
It is argued that lack of access to good food is both a cause and a symptom of the structural inequalities that divide society. A possible solution presented for poor areas includes community gardens, fairness for food workers, and a national food policy.[8]
Article 25 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states: "Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control."
The Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations states that the right to food is "The right to feed oneself in dignity. It is the right to have continuous access to the resources that will enable you to produce, earn or purchase enough food to not only prevent hunger, but also to ensure health and well-being. The right to food only rarely means that a person has the right to free handouts."[9]
- ^ a b c Alkon AH, Agyeman J (2011). Cultivating Food Justice: Race, Class, and Sustainability. Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT Press. ISBN 9780262516327.
- ^ Sampson, Devon; Cely-Santos, Marcela; Gemmill-Herren, Barbara; Babin, Nicholas; Bernhart, Annelie; Bezner Kerr, Rachel; Blesh, Jennifer; Bowness, Evan; Feldman, Mackenzie; Gonçalves, André Luis; James, Dana; Kerssen, Tanya; Klassen, Susanna; Wezel, Alexander; Wittman, Hannah (17 September 2021). "Food Sovereignty and Rights-Based Approaches Strengthen Food Security and Nutrition Across the Globe: A Systematic Review". Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems. 5. doi:10.3389/fsufs.2021.686492.
- ^ Glennie, C., Alkon, A. “Food justice: cultivating the field” Environmental Research Letters, vol 13, no. 7. 2018 https://www.webofscience.com/wos/woscc/full-record/WOS:000439295800001
- ^ Sbicca, J (2018). Food Justice Now!: Deepening the Roots of Social Struggle. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press. ISBN 9781517904012.
- ^ Weiler, Anelyse M.; Hergesheimer, Chris; Brisbois, Ben; Wittman, Hannah; Yassi, Annalee; Spiegel, Jerry M. (October 2015). "Food sovereignty, food security and health equity: a meta-narrative mapping exercise". Health Policy and Planning. 30 (8): 1078–1092. doi:10.1093/heapol/czu109. PMC 4559116. PMID 25288515.
- ^ Byaruhanga, Ronald; Isgren, Ellinor (October 2023). "Rethinking the Alternatives: Food Sovereignty as a Prerequisite for Sustainable Food Security". Food Ethics. 8 (2). doi:10.1007/s41055-023-00126-6.
- ^ Erwin, Anna (February 2016). "Pondering Farmworker Justice: The Visible and Invisible Borders of Social Change". Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development: 1–5. doi:10.5304/jafscd.2016.062.007.
- ^ "Fixing Food | Union of Concerned Scientists".
- ^ Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations. Right to Food Unit. Right to Food Questions and Answers. 2007