Discussion: The Problem of Industrial Agriculture [] Center for Global Justice

What is more basic to our very survival than our food system? Yet today, the unfolding economic crisis unleashed with the Covid19 pandemic has been accompanied by an increase in food insecurity especially in countries that are dependent on imported food. In addition to being implicated as a cause of the pandemic, our current food system based on industrial agriculture is responsible for 21-37% of total human-caused greenhouse gas emissions, loss of biodiversity, waste and contamination of water, transportation, deforestation, soil degradation and more–making industrial agriculture one of the main polluters in the world.

Yet we also know that the transformation of our food system could be a major part of the solutions we need. Supporting local food production and consumption should be seen as a way out of our problems and even a boost to employment. A turn to regenerative agriculture offers at way to feed the world in harmony with nature, fight climate change, advance both food security and sovereignty, and help to improve people’s health through healthier diets.

Ercilia Sahores is a founding member and Latin America director of Regeneration International. She is also director of campaigns for the Organic Consumers Association based in Mexico. She has more than 15 years of campaigning and organizing experience in low-income communities and rural areas. Sahores serves on several non-profit boards, including Caminos de Agua in Guanajuato, Mexico.

Oscar Ugarteche is a Senior Researcher “C,” T.C, with Conacyt-SNI III and the Institute of Economic Research of the National Autonomous University (UNAM) of Mexico. He is also the coordinator of the Observatorio Económico Latinoamericano (Latin American Economic Observatory, OBELA).