A study in Andhra Pradesh compares three prevalent farming methods, analysing their overall benefits, such as production, economic impact and social and health implications. This first-of-its-kind research, led by impact data and analytics provider GIST Impact and supported by the Global Alliance for the Future of Food, used True Cost Accounting methods to compare the major economic, social, and health impacts of natural farming with the three existing and still dominant farming systems in the Indian State of Andhra Pradesh – tribal farming, rainfed dryland agriculture, and chemically-intensive farming in the delta region. The study concludes that community-based natural farming offers superior benefits in terms of higher yields, crop diversity and income for farmers. While natural farming is being increasingly adopted by farmers in Andhra Pradesh and other states, standardisation can be achieved only through a governmental approach. Mongabay

 

 

The Paraguayan government has released GM HB4 glufosinate ammonium-tolerant wheat, from the Bioceres company, with a resolution that has not yet been made public and that excluded any citizen participation. A campaign, "Bread without Poison", promoted by food workers, social and peasant organisations, denounces the serious consequences that the crop can bring: More pesticides, evictions and deforestation. BASE-IS is that part of the campaign that aims to gather signatures to reverse Resolution 556 of the Ministry of Agriculture. BASE-IS says, "Wheat is one of the bases of our diet, so the entire population would be even more exposed to the daily consumption of herbicides and in particular to glufosinate ammonium, a highly toxic herbicide. The most exposed to its risks are those who consume the most wheat – in the form of bread, cookies, and noodles – boys and girls, particularly those from low-income families. This [GM wheat] violates their rights to adequate and healthy food.” Agency Tierra Viva (the link given above is to the Google translation into English)

 

 

“A Tale of Two Seeds: Sound and Silence in Latin America’s Andean Plains” has won an international award, the Prix Are Electronica. The work is a sound study of destructive Roundup Ready soy monocultures and the resilient indigenous grain amaranth that has subverted these GMO monocultures. The artists behind the sound study said, “In this sonic interrogation of Colombian soils, we will highlight amaranth’s symbolic role in the resistance to modern forms of colonialism most strongly represented by genetic engineering, the privatisation of seeds and land sovereignty. Soy monoculture and the forms in which it [soy] is being mutated in order to dominate and wipe out the amaranth is a modern form of colonialism and will have a dramatic impact on the future of Latin American territories.” [GMW: Anyone who is interested in new ways of exploring the relationships between plants, soils, and cultures will find this work fascinating.] Prix Are Electronica

 

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