The specter of productivism and food democracy

Wisconsin Law Review

Volumn 2014, Issue 2, 2014, Pages 199-233

  De Schutter, Olivier ^a  

^a UNIVERSITÉ CATHOLIQUE DE LOUVAIN   (Belgium)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

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EID: 84904859557     PISSN: 0043650X     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: None     Document Type: Article

References (135)

1. According to the United States Census Bureau, the annual population growth rate peaked at 2.19 percent in 1963, decreasing to 1.14 percent by 2013. International Programs: World Population Growth Rates: 1950-2050, U.S. CENSUS BUREAU, http://www.census.gov/population/international/data/worldpop/graph- growthrate.php (last visited Mar. 20, 2014).
2. The U.N. Population Division of the U.N. Department on Economic and Social Affairs (DESA) estimates that the peak in the rate of demographic growth was reached in 1965-70, at an annual rate of 2.04 percent; the rate of growth was 1.31 percent in 1999-2000. See United Nations Dep't of Econ. & Soc. Affairs Population Div., The World at Six Billion, 10 fig.2, U.N. Doc. ESA/P/WP.154 (1999) [hereinafter The World at Six Billion], available at http://www.un.org/esa/population/publications/sixbillion/sixbilpart1.pdf.
3. PAUL R. EHRLICH, THE POPULATION BOMB 13-37 (2d ed. 1969).
4. MICHAEL POLLAN, THE OMNIVORE'S DILEMMA: A NATURAL HISTORY OF FOUR MEALS 51-52 (2d ed. 2007);
5. Greg Myre, The 1973 Arab Oil Embargo: The Old Rules No Longer Apply, NPR PARALLELS (Oct. 16, 2013, 12:15 PM), http://www.npr.org/blogs/parallels/2013/10/ 15/234771573/the-1973-arab-oil-embargo-the-old-rules-nolonger- apply.
6. See NICK CULLATHER, THE HUNGRY WORLD: AMERICA'S COLD WAR BATTLE AGAINST POVERTY IN ASIA 1-10 (2010).
7. On this geopolitical dimension, see generally id.; JOHN H. PERKINS, GEOPOLITICS AND THE GREEN REVOLUTION: WHEAT, GENES, AND THE COLD WAR (1997).
8. Norman E. Borlaug & Christopher Dowswell, Comm. on World Food Sec., CFS Distinguished Lecture Series Thirtieth Session: The Green Revolution: An Unfinished Agenda (Sept. 20-23, 2004) (document from the Committee on World Food Security's Thirteenth Session) (on file with the FAO Corporate Document Repository at CFS:2004/INF/11), available at http://www.fao.org/docrep/meeting/ 008/j3205e/j3205e00.HTM.
9. See also Norman E. Borlaug, 1970 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, Special 30th Anniversary Lecture at the Norwegian Nobel Institute: The Green Revolution Revisited and the Road Ahead (Sept. 8, 2000).
10. See generally PRODUCTIVITY GROWTH IN AGRICULTURE: AN INTERNATIONAL PERSPECTIVE (Keith O. Fuglie, Sun Ling Wang & V. Eldon Ball eds., 2012).
11. Keith O. Fuglie & Sun Ling Wang, New Evidence Points to Robust but Uneven Productivity Growth in Global Agriculture, AMBER WAVES, Sept. 2012, at 3.
12. Keith Fuglie & Alejandro Nin-Pratt, Int'l Food Policy Research Inst., Agricultural Productivity: A Changing Global Harvest, in 2012 GLOBAL FOOD POLICY REPORT 15 (2013).
13. The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) estimates that the number of hungry people was 960 million in 1969-71, representing 37 percent of the total population, and 923 million in 1979-81, representing 28 percent; 920 million people were still undernourished a decade later, in 1990-92, although taking into account population growth, this meant a further reduction of 8 percentage points (to 20 percent) during the 1980s. See UNITED NATIONS FOOD & AGRIC. ORG., THE STATE OF FOOD INSECURITY IN THE WORLD 2006, at 8 (2006) (calculations of the absolute figures by the author). Thus, although cross-temporal comparisons are difficult to make due to changes in methodology across the whole period, the absolute number of hungry people hardly declined over the past forty years.
14. UNITED NATIONS FOOD & AGRIC. ORG., THE STATE OF FOOD INSECURITY IN THE WORLD: ECONOMIC GROWTH IS NECESSARY BUT NOT SUFFICIENT TO ACCELERATE REDUCTION OF HUNGER AND MALNUTRITION 1-61 (2012) [hereinafter SOFI 2012] (showing the change in undernourished people across the world since 1990).
15. UNITED NATIONS FOOD & AGRIC. ORG., THE STATE OF FOOD INSECURITY IN THE WORLD: THE MULTIPLE DIMENSIONS OF FOOD SECURITY 6, 8 (2013).
16. In fact, however, even short-term deprivation can lead to long-term consequences, particularly when they affect pregnant women or children before their second birthday. See Victora et al., Maternal and Child Undernutrition: Consequences for Adult Health and Human Capital, 371 LANCET 340, 340-57 (2008).
17. See also Harold Alderman, John Hoddinott & Bill Kinsey, Long Term Consequences of Early Childhood Malnutrition, 58 OXFORD ECON. PAPERS 450, 450-74 (2006) (showing the long-term impacts of early undernourishment on economic productivity).
18. See INT'L FOOD POLICY RESEARCH INST., INTRAHOUSEHOLD RESOURCE ALLOCATION IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES: MODELS, METHODS, AND POLICY (Lawrence Haddad, John Hoddinott & Harold Alderman eds., 1997).
19. Frances Moore Lappé et al., How We Count Hunger Matters, 27 ETHICS & INT'L AFF. 251, 252-53 (2013).
20. Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, The Transformative Potential of the Right to Food, Hum. Rts. Council, ¶ 5, U.N. Doc. A/HRC/25/57 (Jan. 24, 2014) [hereinafter Transformative Potential] (by Olivier De Schutter).
21. citing JOHN HODDINOTT ET AL., COPENHAGEN CONSENSUS, CHALLENGE PAPER: HUNGER AND MALNUTRITION (2012).
22. Food Security in the U.S., U.S. DEP'T OF AGRIC., http://www.ers.usda.gov/ topics/food-nutrition-assistance/food-security-in-the-us/key-statistics- graphics.aspx# foodsecure (last updated Sept. 4, 2013).
23. citing Hilary W. Hoynes et al., Long Run Impacts of Childhood Access to the Safety Net 3 (Nat'l Bureau of Econ. Research, Working Paper No. 18535, 2012).
24. DAVID STUCKLER & KAREN SIEGEL, SICK SOCIETIES: RESPONDING TO THE GLOBAL CHALLENGE OF CHRONIC DISEASE 187-88 (2011).
25. Obesity and Overweight, WORLD HEALTH ORG., http://www.who.int/ mediacentre/factsheets/fs311/en/(last updated Mar. 2013).
26. Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, Mission to Mexico, Hum. Rts. Council, ¶ 48, U.N. Doc. A/HRC/19/59/Add.2 (Jan. 17, 2012) (by Olivier De Schutter)
27. citing Ping Zhang et al., Global Healthcare Expenditure on Diabetes for 2010 and 2030, 87 DIABETES RES. & CLINICAL PRAC. 293, 296-97 (2010).
28. Corinna Hawkes, Uneven Dietary Development: Linking the Policies and Processes of Globalization with the Nutrition Transition, Obesity and Diet-Related Chronic Diseases, GLOBALIZATION & HEALTH (Mar. 28, 2006), http://www.globalizationandhealth.com/content/2/1/4.
29. Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, Report Submitted by the Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, Oliver De Schutter, Hum. Rts. Council, ¶ 34 & n.53, U.N. Doc. A/HRC/19/59 (Dec. 26, 2011) (by Olivier De Schutter)
30. Arturo Jiménez-Cruz et al., Consumption of Fruits, Vegetables, Soft Drinks, and High-Fat-Containing Snacks among Mexican Children on the Mexico-U.S. Border, 33 ARCHIVES MED. RES. 74 (2002) (noting that the consumption of fruits and vegetables has declined and the consumption of high-fat-containing snacks has increased among Mexican children);
31. Thomas L. Leatherman & Alan Goodman, Coca-Colonization of Diets in the Yucatan, 61 SOC. SCI. & MED. 833 (2005) (describing how Yucatec Mayan diets have become dependent on processed foods).
32. The First FAO Report on the State of the World's Plant Genetic Resources, based on more than 150 country reports, prepared for the International Technical Conference on Plant Genetic Resources held in Leipzig, Germany, June 17-23, 1996, concluded that [t]he main cause of genetic erosion in crops . . . is the replacement of local varieties by improved or exotic varieties and species. As old varieties in farmers' fields are replaced by newer ones, genetic erosion frequently occurs because the genes and gene complexes found in the diverse farmers' varieties are not contained in toto in the modern variety. In addition, the sheer number of varieties is often reduced when commercial varieties are introduced into traditional farming systems. UNITED NATIONS FOOD & AGRIC. ORG., THE STATE OF THE WORLD'S PLANT GENETIC RESOURCES FOR FOOD AND AGRICULTURE 33 (1997), available at ftp://ftp.fao.org/docrep/fao/meeting/015/ w7324e.pdf.
33. This was confirmed in the updated report, published in 2010. See COMM'N ON GENETIC RES. FOR FOOD & AGRIC., UNITED NATIONS FOOD & AGRIC. ORG., THE SECOND REPORT ON THE STATE OF THE WORLD'S PLANT GENETIC RESOURCES FOR FOOD AND AGRICULTURE 15-16 (2010), available at http://www.fao.org/docrep/013/i1500e/ i1500e.pdf.
34. Hans W. Paerl & Valerie J. Paul, Climate Change: Links to Global Expansion of Harmful Cyanobacteria, 46 WATER RES. 1349, 1350 (2012);
35. Michael F. Chislock et al., Eutrophication: Causes, Consequences, and Controls in Aquatic Ecosystems, NATURE EDUCATION KNOWLEDGE PROJECT, http://www.nature.com/scitable/knowledge/library/eutrophication-causes- consequences-and-controls-in-aquatic- 102364466 (last visited Mar. 8, 2014).
36. HIGH-LEVEL PANEL OF EXPERTS ON FOOD SEC. & NUTRITION OF THE COMM. OF WORLD FOOD SEC., FOOD SECURITY AND CLIMATE CHANGE 12-13 (2012) [hereinafter HLPE], available at http://www.fao.org//fileadmin/user-upload/hlpe/hlpe- documents/HLPE-Reports/HLPE-Report-3-Food-security-and-climate-change-June-2012. pdf.
37. This is confirmed by more recent estimates. See Sonja J. Vermeulen et al., Climate Change and Food Systems, 37 ANN. REV. ENV'T & RESOURCES 195, 198 (2012).
38. David B. Lobell et al., Climate Trends and Global Crop Production since 1980, 333 SCIENCE 616, 619 (2011).
39. See C. NELSON ET AL., INT'L FOOD POLICY RESEARCH INST., CLIMATE CHANGE: IMPACT ON AGRICULTURE AND COSTS OF ADAPTATION 5 (2009), available at http://www.ifpri.org/sites/default/files/publications/pr21.pdf;
40. Emma Bryce, Leaked IPCC Report Links Climate Change to Global Food Scarcity, THE GUARDIAN (Nov. 7, 2013, 4:27 PM), http://www.theguardian.com/ environment/world-on-a-plate/2013/nov/07/climate-change-environment-food- security-ipcc-emissions-united-nations-globalwarming.
41. See DONELLA H. MEADOWS ET AL., THE LIMITS TO GROWTH: A REPORT FOR THE CLUB OF ROME'S PROJECT ON THE PREDICAMENT OF MANKIND (1972).
42. Dominique Gréboval & Gordon Munro, Overcapitalization and Excess Capacity in World Fisheries: Underlying Economics and Methods of Control, in MANAGING FISHING CAPACITY: SELECTED PAPERS ON UNDERLYING CONCEPTS AND ISSUES 1 (Dominique Gréboval ed., 1999).
43. Serge M. Garcia & Richard J. R. Grainger, Gloom and Doom? The Future of Marine Capture Fisheries, 360 PHIL. TRANSACTIONS ROYAL SOC'Y 21, 27 (2005), available at http://rstb.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/360/1453/21.full. pdf.
44. U. Rashid Sumaila et al., A Bottom-Up Re-Estimation of Global Fisheries Subsidies, 12 J. BIOECONOMICS 201 (2010).
45. A recent survey of coral reef fisheries, accounting for some 10 percent of global fish production, showed that current fishing practices in 55 percent of countries was unsustainable, and the fishing of coral reef species was roughly 64 percent higher than can be sustained. Katie Newton et al., Current and Future Sustainability of Island Coral Reef Fisheries, 17 CURRENT BIOLOGY 655, 655 (2007).
46. William W.L. Cheung et al., Projecting Global Marine Biodiversity Impacts under Climate Change Scenarios, 10 FISH & FISHERIES 235, 236 (2009).
47. For two recent and compelling studies, see THE MEAT CRISIS: DEVELOPING MORE SUSTAINABLE PRODUCTION AND CONSUMPTION (Joyce D'Silva & John Webster eds., 2010)
48. PHILIP LYMBERY & ISABEL OAKESHOTT, FARMAGEDDON: THE TRUE COST OF CHEAP MEAT (2014).
49. UNITED NATIONS FOOD & AGRIC. ORG., HOW TO FEED THE WORLD IN 2050, at 2, 9 (2009), available at http://www.fao.org/fileadmin/templates/wsfs/docs/ expert- paper/How-to-Feed-the-World-in-2050.pdf;
50. UNITED NATIONS FOOD & AGRIC. ORG., LIVESTOCK'S LONG SHADOW: ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES AND OPTIONS, at xx (2006) [hereinafter LIVESTOCK'S LONG SHADOW].
51. See Arnold Tukker et al., Environmental Impacts of Changes to Healthier Diets in Europe, 70 ECOLOGICAL ECON. 1776-78 (2011).
52. Robert Goodland & Jeff Anhang, Livestock and Climate Change: What if the Key Actors in Climate Change Are . . . Cows, Pigs, and Chickens?, WORLD WATCH, Nov.-Dec. 2009, at 10 (measuring the warming potential of methane (CH4) based on its 20-year global warming potential (GWP) rather than the 100-year GWP used by the FAO study).
53. See M. Herrero et al., Livestock and Greenhouse Gas Emissions: The Importance of Getting the Numbers Right, 166-67 ANIMAL FEED SCI. TECH. 779 (2011);
54. Robert Goodland & Jeff Anhang, Comment to the Editor, 172 ANIMAL FEED SCI. TECH. 252 (2012) (responding to Herrero et al. supra).
55. UNITED NATIONS FOOD & AGRIC. ORG., WORLD AGRICULTURE: TOWARDS 2015/2030: SUMMARY REPORT 11 (2002).
56. There exists a correlation between the switch to specialized and uniform varieties on the one hand and increased variability in productivity on the other hand. See Donald N. Duvick, Possible Genetic Causes of Increased Variability in U.S. Maize Yields, in VARIABILITY IN GRAIN YIELDS 147 (Jock R. Anderson & Peter B.R. Hazell eds., 1989);
57. Peter B.R. Hazell, Sources of Increased Instability in Indian and U.S. Cereal Production, 66 AM. J. AGRIC. ECON. 302 (1984);
58. Peter B.R. Hazell, Sources of Increased Variability in World Cereal Production since the 1960s, 36 J. AGRIC. ECON. 145 (1985) (finding that the increase in aggregate production variability is predominantly due to increased yield variability and to a simultaneous loss in offsetting patterns of variation in yields between crops and regions, changes associated with the more widespread adoption of improved seed- and fertilizer-intensive technologies).
59. For assessments, see BEYOND ECONOMIC LIBERALIZATION IN AFRICA: STRUCTURAL ADJUSTMENTS AND THE ALTERNATIVES (Kidane Mengisteab & B. Ikubolajeh Logan eds., 1995);
60. THE IMPACT OF STRUCTURAL ADJUSTMENT ON THE POPULATION OF AFRICA (Aderanti Adepoju ed., 1993);
61. STRUCTURAL ADJUSTMENT & AGRICULTURE: THEORY & PRACTICE IN AFRICA & LATIN AMERICA (Simon Commander ed., 1989);
62. Jane Harrigan & Paul Mosley, Evaluating the Impact of World Bank Structural Adjustment Lending: 1980-87, 27 J. DEV. STUD. 63 (1991);
63. Howard Stein, World Bank Agricultural Policies, Poverty and Income Inequality in Sub-Saharan Africa, 4 CAMBRIDGE J. REGIONS, ECON. & SOC'Y 79 (2010).
64. The price and market liberalization followed prescriptions of the World Bank. See, e.g., WORLD BANK, SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA: FROM CRISIS TO SUSTAINABLE GROWTH 91, 96 (1989) (noting that flexible prices will incentivize farmers to follow the signals of the market and switch to crops for which there is a demand and which will fetch higher prices and advocating the removal of subsidies on inputs, which 'only encourages waste').
65. The major study on rural-urban migration is KEITH GRIFFIN, THE POLITICAL ECONOMY OF AGRARIAN CHANGE: AN ESSAY ON THE GREEN REVOLUTION (1974).
66. U.N. CONFERENCE ON TRADE & DEV., THE LEAST DEVELOPED COUNTRIES REPORT 2010: TOWARDS A NEW INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT ARCHITECTURE FOR LDCS, at IV, 8, U.N. Doc. UNCTAD/LDC/2010, U.N. Sales No. E.10.II.D.5 (2010).
67. See, e.g., Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, Building Resilience: A Human Rights Framework for World Food and Nutrition Security, Hum. Rts. Council, ¶¶ 2-5, U.N. Doc. A/HRC/9/23 (Sept. 8, 2008) (by Olivier De Schutter);
68. Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, Crisis into Opportunity: Reinforcing Multilateralism, Hum. Rts. Council, ¶¶ 1, 3, U.N. Doc. A/HRC/12/31 (Jul. 21, 2009) (by Olivier De Schutter).
69. L'AQUILA FOOD SEC. INITIATIVE (AFSI), "L'AQUILA" JOINT STATEMENT ON GLOBAL FOOD SECURITY ¶ 12 (2009) [hereinafter L'AQUILA JOINT STATEMENT], available at http://www.g8italia2009.it/static/G8-Allegato/LAquila- Joint-Statement-on-Global- Food-Security%5B1%5D,0.pdf.
70. The L'Aquila Food Security Initiative committed to invest at least $22 billion by 2012 in support of country-owned plans for agriculture. L'AQUILA FOOD SEC. INITIATIVE (AFSI), 2012 REPORT 1 (2012), available at http://www.state.gov/s/globalfoodsecurity/rls/rpt/laquila/202837.htm. By December 2012, according to the final report released at the second L'Aquila meeting held in Maputo, AFSI donors collectively had met their commitment to mobilize the amount pledged, although the funds were yet to be totally disbursed.
71. The World Summit on Food Security convened in Rome on Nov. 16-18, 2009, and adopted the "Five Rome Principles on Sustainable Global Food Security." World Summit on Food Security, Rome, It., Nov. 16-18, 2009, Declaration of the World Summit on Food Security, at 2, WSFS/2009/02 (Nov. 2009), available at http://www.fao.org/wsfs/wsfs-list-documents/en/. Under Principle 1, governments pledged to "Invest in country-owned plans, aimed at channelling resources to welldesigned and results-based programmes and partnerships."
72. Robert E. Black et al., Maternal and Child Nutrition: Building Momentum for Impact, 382 LANCET 367, 372 (2013), http://www.thelancet.com/journals/ lancet/issue/vol382no9890/PIIS0140-6736(13)X6037-4.
73. The finding, per se, was not entirely new in 2008. See, e.g., A. Ashworth, Effects of Intrauterine Growth Retardation on Mortality and Morbidity in Infants and Young Children, 52 EUR. J. CLINICAL NUTRITION S34, S34 (1998).
74. Until 2005-07, investment in agricultural production remained negligible as a share of total inward foreign direct investment in developing countries. See U.N. CONFERENCE ON TRADE & DEV., WORLD INVESTMENT REPORT 2009: TRANSNATIONAL CORPORATIONS, AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTION AND DEVELOPMENT, at 111, U.N. Sales No. E.09.II.D.15 (2009). It then began to rise significantly: according to the U.N. Conference on Trade and Development, it increased from below an average of $1 billion annually in 1989-91 to an average of $3 billion in 2005-07.
75. See Olivier De Schutter, The Green Rush: The Race for Farmland and the Rights of Land Users, 52 HARV. INT'L L.J., 503, 503-59 (2011).
76. BREAD FOR THE WORLD ET AL., RIGHT TO FOOD AND NUTRITION WATCH 2013: ALTERNATIVES AND RESISTANCE TO POLICIES THAT GENERATE HUNGER (2013) (collecting a range of contributions noting the dangers of the capture by the private sector of the food security agenda).
77. See Statement Circulated by H.E. Hartwig de Haen, Assistant Dir.-Gen., Food & Agric. Org., World Trade Organization, Ministerial Conference, Cancun, Mex., Sept. 10-14, 2003, WT/MIN(03)/ST/61 (Sept. 11, 2003), available at http://www.wto. org/english/thewto-e/minist-e/min03-e/statements-e/st61.pdf.
78. The FAO also noted that [o]ver the last two decades the share of Least-Developed Countries and Net Food Importing Developing Countries (NFIDCs) in global agricultural exports has declined and their share in global food imports has increased. LDCs moved from net agricultural export surpluses of US$1-2 billion in the late 1970s to net deficits of US$4.4 billion in 1999. NFIDCs similarly moved from surpluses of US$2-3 billion in the late 1970s to defic its[sic] of more than US$4 billion in the late 1990s. Id. at 1-2. The cereal import bill for Low Income Food Deficit Countries peaked at over $38 billion in 2007-08. Low-Income Food-Deficit Countries Food Situation Overview, CROP PROSPECTS & FOOD SITUATION, no. 2, April 2009 at 11, 12, available at http://www.fao.org/docrep/011/ai481e/ai481e05.htm.
79. See also U.N. Comm'n on Sustainable Dev., Rep. on the 17th Sess., May 16, 2008 & May 4-15, 2009, ¶ 148, U.N. Doc. E/CN.17/2009/19, Supp. No. 9 (2009).
80. WORLD BANK, AGRICULTURE FOR DEVELOPMENT: WORLD DEVELOPMENT REPORT 2008, at 122 (2007) (noting the importance to low-income countries of maintaining international competitiveness in bulk agricultural commodity exports "because exports of coffee, cocoa, tea, cotton, and other bulk commodities are their main source of foreign exchange. For Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, and Mali, one such commodity accounts for more than half of the value of total exports").
81. UNITED NATIONS FOOD & AGRIC. ORG., THE STATE OF AGRICULTURAL COMMODITY MARKETS: 2009, at 12 (2009), available at ftp://ftp.fao.org/docrep/ fao/012/i0854e/i0854e.pdf.
82. As noted by Hafez Ghanem, at the time an Assistant Director-General of the FAO: Because global production levels are technically sufficient and because world food prices have long been low and stable, investment in agriculture has been steadily declining since the 1970s. As a result, the rate of growth of agricultural capital stock (ACS) in the world fell from 1.1 percent in 1975-1990 to 0.50 percent in 1991-2007. Hafez Ghanem, World Food Security and Investment in Agriculture, CARNEGIE ENDOWMENT FOR INT'L PEACE (Sept. 17, 2009), http://carnegieendowment.org/2009/09/17/world-food-security-and-investment-in- agriculture/12q.
83. It has been calculated that, in order to feed animals in the EU, more than 16 million hectares of land were used to grow soybean outside the EU, a concept sometimes referred to "virtual trade in land." See HEINRICH BÖLL STIFTUNG, FRIENDS OF THE EARTH EUR., MEAT ATLAS: FACTS AND FIGURES ABOUT THE ANIMALS WE EAT 30-31 (2014).
84. On the competition for resources that the growth in demand for meat leads to, see Ramona Cristina Ilea, Intensive Livestock Farming: Global Trends, Increased Environmental Concerns, and Ethical Solutions, 22 J. AGRIC. & ENVTL. ETHICS 153, 157 (2009).
85. David Zilberman et. al, The Impact of Biofuels on Commodity Food Prices: Assessment of Findings, 95 AM. J. AGRIC. ECON. 275, (2013), available at http://ajae. oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2012/06/07/ajae.aas037.full.pdf.
86. Rosamond Naylor & Walter P. Falcon, Food Security in an Era of Economic Volatility, 36 POPULATION & DEV. REV. 693, 698-700 (2010).
87. Foresight studies have suggested that if current mandates are implemented, the price of cereals and other crops could be 35 percent higher by 2030 than under a reference scenario where biofuels consumption remains constant at 2008 levels, with an estimated 136 million more people at risk of hunger. See Günther Fischer, Food & Agric. Org., How Can Climate Change and the Development of Bioenergy Alter the Long-term Outlook for Food and Agriculture?, in LOOKING AHEAD IN WORLD FOOD AND AGRICULTURE: PERSPECTIVES TO 2050, at 95, 128-29, 133-35 (2011).
88. A range of studies has documented the increased pressure on land resulting from biofuels policies. See, e.g., LORENZO COTULA ET AL., UNITED NATIONS FOOD & AGRIC. ORG., INT'L INST. FOR ENV'T & DEV., FUELLING EXCLUSION? THE BIOFUELS BOOM AND POOR PEOPLE'S ACCESS TO LAND (2008);
89. PROSPER B. MATONDI ET AL., BIOFUELS, LAND GRABBING AND FOOD SECURITY IN AFRICA (2011).
90. JENNY GUSTAVSSON ET AL., SWEDISH INST. FOR FOOD & BIOTECHNOLOGY (SIK), UNITED NATIONS FOOD & AGRIC. ORG., GLOBAL FOOD LOSSES AND FOOD WASTE: EXTENT, CAUSES, AND PREVENTION (2011).
91. See generally Eric Lambin & Patrick Meyfroidt, Global Land Use Change, Economic Globalization, and the Looming Land Scarcity, 108 PROC. NAT'L ACAD. SCI. 3465 (2011).
92. E.F. Lambin et al., Estimating the World's Potentially Available Cropland Using a Bottom-up Approach, 23 GLOBAL ENVTL. CHANGE 892, 899 (2013);
93. Eric Lambin, Global Land Availability: Malthus versus Ricardo, 1 GLOBAL FOOD SECURITY 83, 83-87 (2012).
94. The notion of "coevolution" refers to the fact that different sub-systems mutually influence each other's development, thereby becoming mutually supportive because adapted to one other and blocking transformative change. See John Grin et al., Introduction: From Persistent Problems to System Innovations and Transitions, in TRANSITIONS TO SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT: NEW DIRECTIONS IN THE STUDY OF LONG TERM TRANSFORMATIVE CHANGE 4 (2010);
95. Gert Spaargaren, Peter Oosterveer & Anne Loeber, Sustainability Transitions in Food Consumption, Retail and Production, in FOOD PRACTICES IN TRANSITION: CHANGING FOOD CONSUMPTION, RETAIL AND PRODUCTION IN THE AGE OF REFLEXIVE MODERNITY 1, 11 (Gert Spaargaren, Peter Oosterveer & Anne Loeber eds., 2012);
96. Richard R. Nelson, The Co-evolution of Industry Structure, Technology and Supporting Institutions, and the Making of Comparative Advantage, 3 INDUS. & CORP. CHANGE, 47, 47-63 (1994);
97. Carlota Perez, Structural Change and the Assimilation of New Technologies in the Economic and Social System, 15 FUTURES 357-75 (1983);
98. Elizabeth Shove & Gordon Walker, CAUTION! Transitions Ahead: Politics, Practice and Sustainable Transition Management, 39 ENV'T & PLAN. A, 763, 763-64, 767 (2007).
99. This is the "Producer Support Estimate" calculated by the OECD. OECD Stat Extracts: Estimate of Support to Agriculture, ORG. FOR ECON. CO-OPERATION & DEV., http://stats.oecd.org/Index.aspx?QueryId=50476 (last visited Jan. 24, 2014).
100. The inverse relationship between the size of the farm and its productivity per surface was initially highlighted by Amartya K. Sen in the 1960s, Amartya Kumar Sen, An Aspect of Indian Agriculture, 14 ECON. WEEKLY 243, 243-46 (1962);
101. Amartya Kumar Sen, Peasants and Dualism with or without Surplus Labor, 74 J. POL. ECON. 425, 441-42 (1966), and confirmed by a large body of evidence since.
102. See, e.g., Calogero Carletto, Sara Savastano & Alberto Zezza, Fact or Artefact: The Impact of Measurement Errors on the Farm-Size Productivity Relationship (World Bank, Policy Research Working Paper No. 5908, 2011).
103. See WORLD BANK, WORLD DEVELOPMENT REPORT 2008: AGRICULTURE FOR DEVELOPMENT 109 (2007) (showing that in countries such as Bolivia (based on 2002 data), Ethiopia (2000), Bangladesh (2001), Zambia (1998) and Vietnam (1998), the proportion of smallholders who are net food buyers is larger than the proportion who are net sellers).
104. See United Nations Dep't of Econ. & Soc. Affairs Population Div., World Urbanization Prospects: The 2011 Revision, 12 tbl.7, U.N. Doc. ST/ESA/SER.A/322 (2012).
105. See UNITED NATIONS FOOD & AGRIC. ORG., FOOD, AGRICULTURE AND CITIES: CHALLENGES OF FOOD AND NUTRITION SECURITY, AGRICULTURE AND ECOSYSTEM MANAGEMENT IN AN URBANIZING WORLD (2011).
106. E. Duchemin, F. Wegmuller & A.-M. Legault, Urban Agriculture: Multi-Dimensional Tools for Social Development in Poor Neighbourhoods, 1 FIELD ACTIONS SCI. REP. 43, 43-49 (2008).
107. See, e.g., ONTARIO MINISTRY OF AGRIC., FOOD AND RURAL AFFAIRS, MODELS AND BEST PRACTICES FOR BUILDING SUSTAINABLE FOOD SYSTEMS IN ONTARIO AND BEYOND (Irena Knezevic et al. eds., 2013);
108. Harriet Friedman, Scaling Up: Bringing Public Institutions and Food Service Corporations into the Project for a Local, Sustainable Food System in Ontario, 24 AGRIC. & HUM. VALUE 389, 389-96 (2007).
109. Local Food Act, TORONTO FOOD POL. COUNCIL (Nov. 11, 2013), http://tfpc.to/policy/local-food-act.
110. Food Strategy Update: The Mobile Good Food Market, TORONTO FOOD POL. COUNCIL (Jan. 29, 2013), http://tfpc.to/policy/food-strategy-update-the-mobile- goodfood- market;
111. Toronto Agricultural Program Update, TORONTO FOOD POL. COUNCIL (Dec. 2, 2013), http://tfpc.to/policy/toronto-agricultural-program-update.
112. See Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, Mission to South Africa, Hum. Rts. Council, ¶ 48, U.N. Doc. A/HRC/19/59/Add.3 (Jan. 13, 2012) (by Olivier De Schutter).
113. See generally MINISTRY OF AGRARIAN DEV., THE FOME ZERO (ZERO HUNGER) PROGRAM: THE BRAZILIAN EXPERIENCE (Jose Graziano et al. eds., 2011).
114. Cecilia Rocha & Iara Lessa, Urban Governance for Food Security: The Alternative Food System in Belo Horizont, Brazil, 14 INT'L PLAN. STUD. 389, 389-95 (2009).
115. See Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, Mission to Brazil, Hum. Rts. Council, ¶¶ 33, 50, U.N. Doc. A/HRC/13/33/Add.6 (Feb. 19, 2009) (by Olivier De Schutter).
116. Comm. on Economic, Social & Cultural Rights, Substantive Issues Arising in the Implementation of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights: General Comment 12, 20th Sess., Apr. 26-May 14, 1999, ¶ 21, U.N. Doc. E/C.12/1999/5 (May 12, 1999).
117. UNITED NATIONS FOOD & AGRIC. ORG., VOLUNTARY GUIDELINES TO SUPPORT THE PROGRESSIVE REALIZATION OF THE RIGHT TO ADEQUATE FOOD IN THE CONTEXT OF NATIONAL FOOD SECURITY 11 (2005), available at ftp://ftp.fao.org/docrep/fao/009/ y7937e/y7937e00.pdf.
118. The Guidelines are appended to the Rep. of the 30th Session of the Comm. on World Food Sec. (CFS), 127th Sess., Nov. 22-27, 2004, ¶¶ 3.1-3.3, U.N. Doc. CL 127/10-Sup.1 (2004).
119. LISA C. SMITH ET AL., INT'L FOOD POLICY RESEARCH INST., THE IMPORTANCE OF WOMEN'S STATUS FOR CHILD NUTRITION IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES: RESEARCH REPORT 131, at 7 (2003)
120. based on the conceptual framework between immediate, underlying and basic causes of poor nutritional outcomes initially presented by the UNITED NATIONS CHILDREN'S FUND (UNICEF), THE STATE OF THE WORLD'S CHILDREN 23, 33 (1998).
121. For instance, writing in his official capacity as the U.N. Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, this author recommended that Canada adopt a food policy for the country, "clearly delineating the responsibilities of public officials at the federal, provincial/territorial, and municipal/local levels, identifying the measures to be adopted and the associated time frames, and ensuring that initiatives adopted at municipal and provincial levels, particularly for the rebuilding of local food systems, are adequately supported" and adding that "as part of this strategy [Canada should have] a nationally funded children and food strategy (including school-feeding food literacy and school garden programmes) to ensure that all children at all times have access to healthy and nutritious food." See Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, Mission to Canada, Hum. Rts. Council, 22d Sess., ¶ 69, U.N. Doc. A/HRC/22/50/Add.1 (Dec. 24, 2012) (by Olivier De Schutter).
122. Multiyear, national strategies also allow public programs to bridge the gap between short-term and ad hoc approaches and development: for instance, it has been found that school feeding programs work best when part of multiyear strategies with predictable and secured funding because this favors investment in local food producers supplying the program and in the skills required to implement them - including cooking skills that must be mobilized within schools or community kitchens serving schools. See WORLD FOOD PROGRAMME, LEARNING FROM EXPERIENCE: GOOD PRACTICES FROM 45 YEARS OF SCHOOL FEEDING 27-30, available at http://documents.wfp.org/stellent/groups/public/documents/communications/ wfp223424.pdf.
123. Luc Christiaensen et al., The (Evolving) Role of Agriculture in Poverty Reduction-An Empirical Perspective, 96 J. DEV. ECON. 239, 242-43 (2011).
124. INT'L LABOUR ORG., SOCIAL PROTECTION FLOOR FOR A FAIR AND INCLUSIVE GLOBALIZATION: REPORT OF THE ADVISORY GROUP, at xxi (2011), available at http://www.ilo.org/public/english/protection/spfag/download/background/ bachrep-en.pdf.
125. Int'l Labour Conference, 101st Sess., May 30, 2012, Text of the Recommendation Concerning National Floors of Social Protection, 2, 4.
126. New ILO Recommendation on Social Protection Floors, INT'L LAB. ORG. (June 19, 2012), http://www.ilo.org/brussels/WCMS-183640/lang-en/index.htm.
127. Press Release, G20 Leaders, G20 Leaders Declaration ¶ 22 (June 4-5, 2012).
128. See HIGH-LEVEL PANEL OF EXPERTS ON FOOD SEC. & NUTRITION OF THE COMM. OF WORLD FOOD SEC., SOCIAL PROTECTION FOR FOOD SECURITY 46-48 (2012), available at http://www.fao.org/fileadmin/user-upload/hlpe/hlpe-documents/HLPE- Reports/HLPE-Report-4-Social-protection-for-food-security-June-2012.pdf.
129. CFS is an FAO intergovernmental committee that was transformed at the end of 2009 into an inclusive forum. Although governments are the only voting members on any decisions to be adopted, U.N. agencies working in the area of food security, international financial institutions (including the World Trade Organization) civil society organizations, and the private sector participate in reaching an international consensus on the measures that are desirable to improve global food security. Comm. of World Food Sec., Reform of the Committee on World Food Security, 35th Sess., Oct. 14-15, 17, 2009, ¶¶ 11-12, FAO Doc. CFS:2009/2Rev. 2 (Oct. 2009). It has been described as "the foremost inclusive international and intergovernmental platform for a broad range of committed stakeholders to work together in a coordinated manner and in support of country-led processes towards the elimination of hunger and ensuring food security and nutrition for all human beings."
130. A Second Version was adopted in October 2013, at the 40th plenary session of the CFS. Comm. of World Food Sec., Global Strategic Framework for Food & Nutrition (GSF), 40th Sess., Oct. 7-11, 2013, FAO Doc. CFS 2013/40/5 Add.1 (2013).
131. Comm. of World Food Sec., Global Strategic Framework for Food & Nutrition (GSF), 39th Sess., Oct. 15-20, 2012, ¶¶ 2-12, FAO Doc. CFS 2012/39/5 Add.1 (2012).
132. Conference on Sustainable Development, June 20-22, 2012, Rep. of the U.N. Conference on Sustainable Dev., ¶ 108, U.N. Doc. A/CONF.216/16 (2012).
133. HIGH-LEVEL PANEL OF EMINENT PERSONS ON THE POST-2015 DEV. AGENDA, A NEW GLOBAL PARTNERSHIP: ERADICATE POVERTY AND TRANSFORM ECONOMIES THROUGH SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT 40 (2013), available at http://www.un.org/sg/management/ pdf/HLP-P2015-Report.pdf.
134. UNITED NATIONS FOOD & AGRIC. ORG. & WORLD FOOD PROGRAMME, THE MADRID HIGH-LEVEL CONSULTATION ON HUNGER, FOOD SECURITY AND NUTRITION IN THE POST-2015 DEVELOPMENT FRAMEWORK: BACKGROUND NOTE AND AGENDA 3-4 (Apr. 4, 2013), available at http://www.fao.org/fsnforum/post2015/sites/post2015/files/files/ Background-and-Agenda-HLM-on-FSN.pdf.
135. Comm. of World Food Sec., Report, 40th Sess., Oct. 7-11, 2013, ¶ 81, FAO Doc. CFS 2013/40 (2013).