The Market Is Open

The ides of August have given way to the second half of another month, fresh bouquets of No. #2 pencils and the promise of fall rains. Welcome to August the 16th and an open ALFN "market"http://littlerock.locallygrown.net/market.

Food Sovereignty 101

the right of people to determine their own food and agriculture policies;
the democratization of food and agriculture. (from the U.S. Food Sovereignty Alliance)

Sovereignty in politics is rooted in monarchy…the ruling of one. When a king claims royal sovereignty, he claims a certain kind of power and authority over others—a claim over land and over populations of people. Royal sovereignty not only identified borders with other sovereign states, but also wielded control over food production and distribution. Indeed, royal sovereignty claimed rights over life by requiring loyalty to crown in the call to war. Over the past few hundred years, monarchical power has given way to democratic power in the western world. Yet, some would argue the democracy of today has merely subdivided royal sovereignty not into geographical boundaries, but production systems. It might be insightful to consider the similarities between ancient royal families and corporate families within the various production systems of global capitalism. Yes, I use to teach American Government & Economics in High School, and no, I will not bore you with a thorough investigation into the various taxonomies of democracy from anarchism to representative to pluralist models.

However, I would like to differentiate this idea of royal sovereignty from collective sovereignty. Royal sovereignty is power over populations; it is a kind of radical individuality linked with wealth and power. Collective sovereignty is communally-derived independence. It represents the result of many voices standing together. Collective sovereignty serves as the answer to an equation that attempts to maintain transparency, equity and justice in local decision making. In the case of food sovereignty, the elements of the equation require local food producers and local food consumers to divide, multiply, subtract and add supply and demand into food production system that feeds a local population. As you may note, local food consumers is a somewhat technical way of talking about all human beings who live…here. Consequently, local food systems cannot be sovereign until all consumers come to the table. Food is a requirement to life, and like the air, if food is denied to the “consumer” results in what society typically calls murder. In a world where everything is commoditized it is easy to forget that access to food shouldn’t be given only to those with greenbacks in their pockets. For this reason, collective sovereignty limits the machinations of supply and demand to include the voices of all socioeconomic participants…those with great capital and those with little capital.

As ALFN’s core values state, we want to see a thriving local food economy that empowers all participants to build a thriving local food economy that protects the producer and consumer by also protecting wild ecosystem where these participants dwell. Regardless of wealth or status, equal access to a food system that protects the land requires collective sovereignty. I encourage all of you to participate in this effort not simply through your purchasing power, but through your feedback and involvement in this system. Let us be thorough in commitment to developing a local economy that puts the power among local stakeholders.

Reminders

1. I’m still needing any recycled paper you may have with one blank side. I like using recycled paper as much as possible for our invoices.

2. You can still sign up for volunteer positions for the early or late shift from now until December. Follow this link to sign up. We have three open spots for next week.

Kyle Holton

Program & Market Manager