The NFU had their 2008 convention this weekend in Saskatoon. Thought people might be interested in seeing a news report about it. Judy Rebick was one of their speakers:
Rebick drew parallels between food activists, many of whom are farmers, and those who facilitate Internet piracy. She says both groups are working to challenge existing modes of production.
"You're all part of a massive movement to take back control," she told the audience.
Rebick says online piracy, while illegal, is helping alert people to the fact that those who actually produce products -- be they cultural, industrial or agricultural -- earn much less than those who distribute them.
"The person building the car, farming the land or writing the song gets nothing," she said. "It's the distributors that get all the money."
Referring to food produced by corporate agricultural firms as "rotten" and "unsafe," Rebick said there's a global trend toward healthy, sustainable and locally produced food.
Evidence for the movement is everywhere, Rebick says, including community gardens, farmers markets and specialty diets like the 100-mile diet and the slow food movement.
"We don't have to build an alternative food system," she said. "We already have one.
"We just need to get the policy makers out of the way."
) this am. 