Food Connect is a local business that feeds many Westenders through its regular food boxes and wholesale provision for local food cooperatives such as Turnstyle.
Through the wonders of online fund raiser Pozible, they have raised $12,000 to send Aussie farmers and representatives to join with representatives of the 200 million strong, global family farming movement (La Via Campesina) at their 6thInternational Conference in Jakarta, Indonesia in June 2013.
This is an incredible, once in a generation opportunity, for Aussie voices and views to connect with those of famers from 58 other countries in La Via Campesina’s 20-year long struggle to end the globalization of hunger.
The facts as we know them:
Small-scale agriculture, based on agroecology and food sovereignty, is the only model of food production that offers a sustainable future for the planet and its peoples; The corporate-driven industrialised model of agriculture seeks to deliberately destroy this small scale agriculture and the lives of those who practice it; La Via Campesina, as the authentic voice of the peasant, is the only organisation capable of maintaining the integrity and legitimacy of this model of sustainable agriculture and protecting the rights of those who practice it If they are to survive, Australian family farmers can no longer remain isolated from the knowledge, experiences and global solidarity that comes from meaningful engagement with the global family farming community that is La Via Campesina
On their return from Jakarta, the delegation members will form the core of the Australian- LVC connection. Their role will be to:
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- Build on and strengthen the LVC/Australia family farmer alliance;
- Coordinate ongoing LVC/Australian family farmer cultural exchanges;
- Initiate a range of activities to share their learnings and experiences with other family farmers across Australia; and
- Help to establish an Australian Family Farming Organisation which can be accepted for formal membership of La Via Campesina.
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