In our current global agriculture system, corporations focus on producing massive volumes of food as fast and as cheaply as possible. Sounds good, considering we’re always trying to solve world hunger, right? The Family Farm Defenders, a small-farm workers’ rights group based in Madison, would disagree. As would the keynote speaker for their upcoming award ceremony, Dr. Jahi Chappell.
On this edition of the Friday 8 O’Clock Buzz, Dr. Chappell joins host Andy Moore and producer Beatrice Lawrence to discuss how our current system of overproduction actually contributes to poverty and hunger, and how large agriculture corporations harm both farm workers and the environment. Most importantly, he agues that these problems can be solved by encouraging food sovereignty: putting control over food systems back into the hands of the real people who actually produce, harvest, and consume it.
Jahi Chappell is the director of the Michigan State University Center for Regional Food Systems and the W.K. Kellogg Foundation Endowed Chair in Food and Society. He has authored two books and dozens of articles on how we might create more just and sustainable food systems. He’ll be the keynote speaker at Saturday’s Family Farm Defenders annual award ceremony. There, they will be presenting the John Kinsman Beginning Farmer Food Sovereignty Prize to two exceptional beginner farmers.