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AGRA Watch

Concerned citizens and activists have begun a CAGJ program called AGRA Watch whose objectives are to monitor and question the Gates Foundation's participation in the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA). Upon researching this initiative and its historical precedents, AGRA Watch finds the current approach politically, environmentally, socially, and ethically problematic (to read more, see "Four Categories of Problems" in blog posts). We support sustainable, socially responsible, and indigenous alternatives in Africa, and connect these movements to those occurring in our local communities.

The AGRA Watch project meets from 6:30pm - 8:30pm, the 2nd Tuesday of each month. Location rotates, so please contact us at agrawatch@seattleglobaljustice.org to find out more info, and how to help organize!

Subscribe to our AGRA Watch listserv to stay up to date on the campaign!
Email:

Sign our petition to ask the Gates Foundation to support real solutions to ending hunger


Give Books to a Kenyan Library, and plant the seeds for the future of sustainable farming in Africa!

AGRA Watch, a project of CAGJ, aims to increase support of socially and ecologically appropriate agricultural practices in Africa. In 2010 we visited Manor House Agricultural Centre in Kitale, Kenya, a college that has trained farmers in sustainable agricultural methods for decades. We learned that their library is desperately in need of current resources. CAGJ aims to support the students of Manor House - the future leaders of sustainable farming - by raising $2000 for the college to to purchase new books and current films on food and farming. With your donation, the college will expand its library's collection, planting the seeds for the future of sustainable farming practices. We thank you for working in solidarity with the farmers of Africa to build food sovereignty, here and everywhere.

Agra Watch Links

  • AGRA Watch Weblog
  • Declaration of Nyéléni
  • Family Farm Defenders
  • Food First AAAGRrrr! Newsletter
  • Food First on Challenging the Green Revolution
  • Gates Keepers Blog
  • La Via Campesina
  • Pambazuka News
  • Pesticide Action Network North America
  • Raj Patel “Stuffed and Starved”
  • The Oakland Institute
  • TransAfrica Forum
  • Voices From Africa

What does AGRA Watch support?

AGRA Watch supports African initiatives and programs that foster farmers’ self-determination and food sovereignty. AGRA Watch also supports public engagement in fighting genetic engineering and exploitative agricultural policies, and demands transparency and accountability on the part of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) and AGRA.

Our campaign objectives are to:

1.    Create a thriving global network of farmers, activists and scholars that a) shares knowledge about the impacts of AGRA and the BMGF in Africa, and tracks their impacts and b) shares information about sustainable practices that are alternatives to industrial models in Africa.

2.    Expose and challenge the dominant development ideology that the BMGF practices and promotes.

3.    Provide support and facilitate mutual exchange of information and experiences concerning sustainable and healthy agriculture policies and practices.

4.    Build membership in AGRA Watch and mobilize support for the campaign around the region, throughout the US, and across the globe.

How does AGRA Watch pursue its objectives?

AGRA Watch aspires to form strong relationships with organizations and individuals already promoting alternatives in African communities. We aim to develop a campaign strategy that builds off of and supports the experiences of these groups. Throughout this process, we plan to educate ourselves and the public through outreach, teach-ins, and forums, which we hope will facilitate a public understanding of the role of the BMGF, the problems with AGRA, and the potential of movements for global food security and sovereignty.

Learn more about AGRA Watch by downloading our brochure: AGRA Watch Brochure [pdf]

AGRA Watch in the news!

Seattle-led coalition tells Gates Foundation to change approach: Seattle Times’ Business of Giving Blog, (Dec. 8th, 2010)

Local activists challenge Gates Foundation’s agricultural development strategy: KPLU’s Humanosphere (Dec. 7th, 2010)

CAGJ’s Director Heather Day and AGRA Watch research Travis English traveled to Kenya in February 2010 to learn about the so-called new green revolution in Africa, to research AGRA, and to meet with farmers pursuing alternatives.  read their 10/4/10 article published online in Yes! Magazine: “In Kenya, Farmers Grow Their Own Way: Thousands of grassroots, African-led efforts are building locally rooted alternatives to the chemical agriculture promoted by the Gates Foundation and Monsanto.”

Research conducted by AGRA watch members Travis English and Paige Miller is cited in The Nation article, Ending Africa’s Hunger, by Raj Patel, Eric Holt-Gimenez and Annie Shattuck. This article was part of the September 21 edition of the Nation, “Food for All: How to Grow Democracy”.

Agra Watch co-chair Bill Aal gets rave reception at Northern Arizona University (April 16, 2009)

Local group challenges Gates Foundation on agriculture: Kristi Heim in Seattle Times’ Business of Giving Blog (March 23, 2009)

Gate Foundation takes on a partner in new venture: Sandi Doughton in the Seattle Times (March 31, 2009)

Additional Resources from AGRA Watch:

From AGRA Watch’s workshop “Exploiting the Politics of ‘Need’: AGRA & the Gates Foundation,” at the People’s Summit, Seattle – Nov. 28th, 2009:

Video pt1: Introduction

Video pt2: Participatory Theater

Exploiting ‘Need’ Outline

“Bigwig” Excerpts – quotes from powerful philanthropists, corporations, politicians, and intergovernmental bodies on African agriculture

Advocate/Activist Excerpts – quotes from African civil society organizations, farmers, scholars from the US and Africa, advocates, activists, and allies on African demands, realities, and rights.

Learn more about AGRAFrom http://www.oaklandinstitute.org/

from CAGJ Authors:

Looking in a Gift Horse’s Mouth: “The persistence of food crises and food price volatility has spawned some false solutions. The most notable of these is the ‘New Green Revolution for Africa’, launched by the philanthropic foundation established by Microsoft founder Bill Gates. As Philip L Bereano and Travis M English reveal, this revolution may not be so green after all.”  Third World Resurgence Network, No. 240/241, August-September 2010, pp 44-48

Academic Research: “Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) Fund Distribution: Gates Foundation Links to Monsanto & GE Crops Development in Kenya” [DRAFT]

AGRA Watch Position Paper: ” Standing Up for Food Sovereignty: AGRA Watch Position Paper on Lugar-Casey Global Food Security Act, Genetic Engineering, and the Gates Foundation” May 18th, 2010 [PDF]

Download CAGJ’s Map of AGRA Grantee Countries [PDF]

CAGJ Responds to Paul Collier on Hunger

CAGJ Responds to Scientific American on Hunger

CAGJ Research cited in The Nation

——————————————————–

Voices From Africa – African Farmers And Environmentalists Speak Out Against A New Green Revolution In Africa.  Edited by Anuradha Mittal with Melissa Moore.  Published March 2009.  40 pages [PDF]

A New Green Revolution for Africa? – “This paper aims to describe what a Green Revolution really signifies, why such projects haven’t worked before and why AGRA won’t work either, in order to help people trying to take positions at the local, national and regional levels.”  Written by GRAIN, published November 2007.  7 pages  [PDF]

Unmasking the New Green Revolution in Africa: Motives, Players, and Dynamics – by Elenita c. Daño.  67 pages  [PDF]

How Healthy for Africans is the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA)? – by Prof. Carol Thompson, Northern Arizona University.  3 pages  [PDF]

Ten Reasons Why the Rockefeller and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundations’ Alliance for Another Green Revolution Will Not Solve the Problems of Poverty and Hunger in Sub-Saharan Africa – Food First Policy Brief No. 12, by Eric Holt-Gimenez, Ph.D., Miguel A. Altieri, Ph.D., and Peter Rosset, Ph.D., published October 2006.  11 pages  [PDF]

What’s Behind the Global Food Crisis? How Trade Policy Undermined Africa’s Food Self-Sufficiency
by Food and Water Watch, July 2008. 16 pages [PDF]

DECLARATION OF NYÉLÉNI: Now Is The Time For Food Sovereignty! [DOC]
February 23-27, 2007
Nyéléni Village, Selingue, Mali

Hungry or not, don’t force GM down our throats, by Anuradha Mittal, The East African.  Published March 21, 2009.

Ten Reasons Why Biotechnology Will Not Ensure Food Security, Protect The Environment, And Reduce Poverty In The Developing World, by Miguel A. Altieri and Peter Rosset, AgBioForum.

The heat is on Bill Gates – He now works to solve humanity’s greatest problems with his foundation — yet has no program to curb global warming. That does not compute.  By Joseph Romm, Salon.com.  Published March 9, 2009.

Organic farming beats genetically engineered corn as response to rising global temperatures – Meredith Niles, Grist Magazine.  Published Jan. 16th, 2009.

Let Them Eat Cash: Can Bill Gates Turn Hunger into Profit? -by Frederick Kaufman, Harper’s Magazine June 2009. [pdf]

For further reading, please see the following document “Introductory Bibliography: The Green Revolution Debates 1970-2007″

Green Revolution Bibliography

Past AGRA Watch activities:

AGRA Watch Film Nights, to view and discuss films about issues central to our work: sustainable agricultural production in Africa, resistance to corporate globalization, global food production and distribution, and the roles of women. We hope that these films will help us think about the actions we can take locally that fulfill CAGJ’s campaign of “Strengthening Local Economies Everywhere.”

Please bring your thoughts, ideas, and interests, as well as some food or drink to share! And please RSVP at: agrawatch@seattleglobaljustice.org

Upcoming films: Friday October 29th, 7 – 10 PM: AGRA Watch Film Night & CAGJ Fundraiser! The World According to Monsanto, at Southside Commons, 3518 S Edmunds Street in Columbia City, Seattle. $5 – $20 sliding scale donation; no one turned away for lack of funds.

Saturday November 20th, 5 – 8 PM: The Price of Aid – Location TBD, Free.

Past films: Sweet Crude, Darwin’s Nightmare, Faat Kine, Black Gold, We Feed the World

Worldwide Mobilizations Against Monsanto Continue

Worldwide Mobilizations Against Monsanto Continue, by Reid Mukai, CAGJ Co-Chair If we should accept corporations as persons under U.S. law as the 2010 Citizens United ruling argued, then Monsanto would be among the most psychopathic persons on the planet. There’s no other way to describe one who intentionally contaminates the environment and global food supply [...]

Jan 25 CAGJ Book Group: Appetite for Profit: How the Food Industry Undermines our Health and How to Fight Back

Next Book Group Meeting Appetite for Profit: How the Food Industry Undermines our Health and How to Fight Back When: Wednesday, January 25, 2012; 6:30-8:30pm Location: Salvadorean Bakery, 1719 SW Roxbury St, Seattle, WA 98106 www.thesalvadoreanbakery.com Order the book from Powell’s for $7.95 Facilitated by John Fawcett-Long: A few years ago a small group of [...]

2011 CAGJ Accomplishments

Organized Free, Public, Educational Gatherings & Farm Work-Parties Food Justice Project: Organizing for Food Justice & Food Sovereignty in Seattle & everywhere! Teach-Outs with Central Co-op, Cascadian Edible Landscapes, Seattle Youth Garden Works with Spring into Bed!, Clean Greens Farm (in photo: CAGJ activist Victoria Gibson on the Farm with Clean Greens Farmer Tom Willis, [...]

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