Food Tech vs Agroecology, who will win the competition?
- Food Tech or the food technology industries are multiplying by food security. As part of an industrial food system based on overproduction, its objective is economic benefit, but not the right to food, as food waste is also commodified.
Despite its neglect in the media, on 12 July the European Parliament voted on the “Nature Restoration Act” and gradually moved forward. Serve this law based on restoring ecosystems to curb the claws of capitalist food. We have a lot to do to remove the power of politicians and large lobbies who defend an agro-industrial food system that harms the environment.
These lobbies are also deeply rooted in our country. For the third consecutive year the Food 4Future Congress has been organized at BEC. “Food -Tech revolution”, as saviors of the planet and society, apart from small farmers and the primary sector. A synthetic meat factory will also be set up in Donostia. While the Food Tech industry receives millions of public funds, the first sector in the Basque Country is in crisis.
Food and Tech lobbies aim to address the world’s food shortage by 2050, also protecting the environment. However, if there is enough food to feed the entire world population, the problem is that it does not distribute well. Data indicate that per capita food production has increased by 12% per year in recent decades. At the same time, levels of malnutrition have not changed. In other words, hunger is not a consequence of food shortages, but of the inability to pay and buy them, since the right to food is not basic. And in this overproduction we will continue to waste 30-50% of the food produced, from the moment the food is commodified, because waste is also a necessary phase for capitalism.
The EAT-Lancet Commission recommended plant-based diets for human and environmental health. According to these experts, global consumption of red meat should be reduced by more than 50%, especially in rich countries. There comes another factor. Lower consumption of meat and organic production. Extensive livestock farming offers a range of ecosystem services not guaranteed by other models (including laboratory meat): habitat maintenance, carbon sequestration, biodiversity conservation, etc. In this productive model, moreover, economic flows are integrated into local economies.
In short, to ensure food security and law, to combat population growth and climate change and to prevent social breakdown and environmental collapse, agroecology and the territorial food system are the necessary keys.
This is what Biolur members are doing over the past 30 years. Congratulations on the way you are going!
