Health
People have the right to healthy nutritious food
Food is health
Today’s industrial food system is unhealthy. We live in a time of abundant resources. There has never been such a large quantity of food available. However, 820 million people, and the number is increasing, still suffer from hunger. Additionally, billions more - some estimates go as high as half of the global population - face malnutrition in various forms.
Mental health problems and economic unfairness result from viewing food as a commodity and farmers as replaceable parts of a large system. As consumers, we lose touch with one another and with the earth when we don't know where our food comes from or who cultivated it. As farmers, declining incomes, mounting debts, and the inherent pressures of the profession have a significant impact.
820 million
people do not have enough food to eat
Hunger
is on the rise for the first time in decades
3.9 billion
people suffer from malnutrition. That often includes farmers.
Industrial farming has caused a significant rise in artificial fertilisers, pesticides, and weed killers since the 1990s. The World Health Organization has said that glyphosate, a commonly used chemical, probably causes cancer in humans. These chemicals find their way into our food and water, harming our health and the wellbeing of animals.
Practising agroecology, the science and know-how behind sustainable agriculture, not only benefits farmers’ physical health – it empowers them and their community.