coronavirus

Rising calls for supply management amidst COVID-19 crisis

“You can't shut down cows. You can't turn them off like a faucet.”

US-Kenya FTA and the rights to land and food

You might be surprised to learn that while we’re all sheltering in place and wondering what comes next, trade negotiations that could set labor, environmental and climate rules for decades to come are moving forward. The U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) has announced plans to negotiate a free-trade agreement with Kenya. This would be the first free-trade agreement the U.S. has negotiated with an African nation.

Cold hard (storage) facts about meatpacker threats of scarcity

"It is impossible to keep our grocery stores stocked if our plants are not running,” said Smithfield Chief Executive Officer, Kenneth Sullivan when he announced the closing of its Sioux Falls, South Dakota slaughterhouse due to a COVID-19 outbreak among more than 200 Smithfield workers.

COVID-19 aid offers little for farmers selling locally

Late on Friday, Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue announced the Coronavirus Food Assistance Program (CFAP), a $19 billion payout that includes cash for farmers and ranchers and purchases food for redistribution to food banks.

Uprooting the farm crisis in times of COVID-19

The COVID-19 emergency exposes numerous catastrophic failures in our economies and societies.