Manifestos on the Future of Food and Seed

If you are interested in the topic of maintaining biodiversity on this planet, I highly recommend that you read Manifestos on the Future of Food & Seed, edited by Vandana Shiva. It is published by South End Press www. southendpress.org

Here is an excerpt from Shiva's introduction to the book:

"Terre Madre was a gathering of small producers who refuse to disappear in a world where globalization has written off diversity of species and cultures, small producers, local economies, indigenous knowledge. Not only are small farmers and local food communities refusing to go away, they are determined to shape a future beyond globalization. As Granny Almanac, the Italian Minister of Agriculture and Forestry stated in his introduction to `Terra Madre?:
What is original and truly revolutionary about Terra Madre is that by selecting the Food Communities least susceptible to industrial process ? hence distinctive for the authenticity and quality of their produce ? it attempts to place small-scale food producers at center stage.
Diversity is the ground for the turn around of our food systems ? diversity of crops, diversity of foods, diversity of cultures. Diversity is both the resistance to monocultures and the creative alternative. Building on our uniqueness and variety is our strength, a strength that can be eroded only when we give up on it ourselves.
Another paradigm of food. "

To read the complete article, visit: http://www.zmag.org/Sustainers/Content/2004-11/26shiva.cfm