Globalization Needs To Have Rules
by Jim Goodman, dairy farmer (Wonewoc, WI)
Posted on Jan. 8th, 2007 on Madison Indymedia (www.madisonindymedia.org)
Perhaps you have noticed? Lots of US auto workers lost their jobs in 2006, lots of workers in other industries as well, farmers, well we don't expect much anymore and even high-tech workers are feeling the pinch. The minimum wage hasn't gone up since 1997 and according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, there are currently 6.8 million unemployed (over 8 million if you count those who have given up trying to find a job). Am I missing something here? I thought that globalization and the founding of the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 1995 was supposed to raise everyones ship. Instead it seems most of us are losing ground. read more...
Bringing Fair Trade Home to the U.S.
by: John E. Peck
Dec. 2006/Jan. 2007 issue of the Sustainable Times (www.sustainabletimes.net)
Ever wondered why the fair trade label only applies to products from outside the U.S.? Why are all the fair trade certifies located thousands of miles away from the producers? How can corporations that are so unfair towards workers, farmers, and consumers in the U.S. get away with selling and promoting themselves as fair trade? What ever happened to the idea of applying fair trade principles in our own backyard?
read more...
School Fair Trade Fundraising
The Molasses Stir – Off: Fair Trade Fundraising for Today’s School Children
By: Lori Matthews, Lowell Home and School Association, Madison, WI
When I was a kid the word fundraising meant The Molasses Stir-Off, the annual community gathering where locals converged on John Stuffle’s farm to make molasses. Volunteers would strip cane, feed the stems into the press and skim the top of the bubbling brew as it made its way through the cooking troughs. read more...
Action Alerts
Demand an Investigation of Price Fixing at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange
To mark Via Campesina's International Day of Farmer Solidarity of April 18th, 2005, dozens of family dairy farmers and other food sovereignty activists protested outside the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. You can take action, too.
read more...
Opinion Items
Don’t Play With Our Food!
By: Debra Eschmeyer, project director, National Family Farm Coalition
Most everyone has been told to not play with his or her food, yet somehow agribusiness is playing Monopoly with the nation’s food supply. When pouring your next glass of milk, consider who decided what the cow ate and who controls the distribution of profits. One would think the farmer and consumer take the lead roles in managing the supply of safe and healthy food. The farmer should control his or her business while mainly battling unpredictable weather—expecting the price they receive for a quality product to be set by a fair and honest marketplace. However, in today’s market, the lack of competition is wielding just as much force as Mother Nature as witnessed by the recent proposed acquisition of the Chicago Board of Trade by the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) to become the CME Group Inc.—combining the two largest U.S. futures exchanges. read more...
Dairy Cartel Milks Taxpayers And Farmers
Wisconsin State Journal, Nov. 17, 2005
By: John E. Peck
While I thoroughly agree with the need to eliminate costly agricultural subsidy programs such as the Milk
Income Loss Contract, the State Journal editorial of Oct. 24 missed the crux of the dilemma facing dairy farmers
in Wisconsin: The editorial failed to also call for strict enforcement of existing antitrust legislation to ensure a fair competitive marketplace. read more...
Coleman's Support of CAFTA is Wrong
St. Cloud Times (St. Cloud, MN), July 19, 2005
Dear Editor,
Once again Sen. Coleman (R-MN) is on the wrong side of the fence with his recent vote to support the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA). His choice to sell out to corporate interests is not only a slap in the face to struggling family farmers, but also threatens urban workers, consumers, and those concerned about the steady erosion of our nation’s democracy. read more...
CAFTA is a new Disaster
Capital Times (Madison, WI), Jan. 27, 2005
By John Kinsman
The Central America Free Trade Agreement will be up for congressional action soon. Winners would be giant transnational corporations such as Cargill, Monsanto, ADM and the like, which would reap huge profits at the expense of millions of farmers who may be starved off the land.
read more...
Fact Sheets
Don't Break Our Hearts This Valentine's Day, Support Fair Trade Chocolate
Over 43% of the world’s chocolate comes from the Ivory Coast, where they are still using child slave labor. A 2001 report by the U.S. State Dept. revealed that up to 15,000 children aged 9-12 had been sold as workers to cocoa, cotton, and coffee plantations in the north of the country. Forced to work instead of going to school, most of these kids do not even know what chocolate tastes like! read more...
