Beyond Factory Farming Coalition

Family Farms Not Factory Farms

Food Sovereignty

Introduction

Food sovereignty is the right of peoples to:

  • define their own food and agriculture;
  • to protect and regulate domestic agricultural production and trade in order to achieve sustainable development objectives;
  • to determine the extent to which they want to be self reliant;
  • to restrict the dumping of products in their markets, and;
  • to provide local fisheries-based communities the priority in managing the use of and the rights to aquatic resources.

The concept of food sovereignty was developed by the Vía Campesina and introduced into the public debate on occasion of the World Food Summit in 1996. Two Beyond Factory Farming Coalition members, the National Farmers Union and the Union Paysanne are Canadian members of the Via Campesina.

In February 2007 an international forum on food sovereignty, Nyéléni, was held in rural Mali. Over 500 delegates from around the world gathered to develop and support the international struggle for food sovereignty. The Declaration Of Nyéléni (pdf 36k) outlines the key concepts of food sovereignty, summarizes what we are fighting for, what we are fighting against, and how we can work together to achieve our goals.

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