One of the tracks of the recent REAS congress in Saragossa that brought together over\u00a0600 people for 3 days, was a full day\u2019s workshop on food sovereignty and solidarity\u00a0economy, attended by about 40 food sovereignty activists. It focussed specifically on\u00a0how these two key concepts can be brought together a local level, and the many\u00a0different dimensions that can be implemented by Local Authorities to regenerate and\u00a0relocalise the economy, create sustainable employment and provide both food security\u00a0and food sovereignty for all. At a time when the industrial food system is undermining\u00a0people\u2019s health and food security, it is essential to refocus our attention on local short\u00a0chain food production and distribution in all its many forms, and ensure local food\u00a0sovereignty is implemented as an essential dimension of solidarity economy.<\/p>\n
As someone who has been working on these questions for several years, I believe this\u00a0workshop was a watershed moment. It was the first time that these concepts have been\u00a0taken up and developed so completely at grass-roots level.\u00a0The methodology was participatory and very well prepared in advance, and ensured\u00a0that all ideas were captured on paper. The outcome should be a booklet for supporting\u00a0local food policy implementation and the realisation of food sovereignty. Participants\u00a0included members of the Via Campesina and Urgenci.<\/p>\n
The individual entry points per se were not new: they covered local food policy councils,\u00a0allotments, community gardens and CSAs, public procurement, governance of land\u00a0planning and use, small-scale local processing linked to peasant agriculture and\u00a0sustainable job creation, as well as access to land for youth and transmission of farms to\u00a0new farmers, incubator training schemes for new farmers and more\u2026 What was new to\u00a0me was the collective bottom-up determination to make it happen as a coherent and\u00a0systemic approach.<\/p>\n
When the outcomes have been duly written up we will find the means of translating\u00a0them into other languages and making sure they can be shared. Hopefully it will also\u00a0lead to more comprehensive work through a European programme and further\u00a0dissemination.<\/p>\n