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International Links: UK Food Group

The UK Food Group is the network for non-governmental organisations (NGOs) working on global food and agriculture issues. Sustain works in partnership with the UK Food Group, and also provides some services.

The UK Food Group's own website is at http://www.ukfg.org.uk/ - this page gives a brief summary of recent activities, as reported to Sustain's Council.

Autumn 2011 

The UK Food Group has held a ‘dialogue process’ among member organisations to share information, identify opportunities for greater cooperation and address sensitive issues. This led to a dialogue session as part of the UK Food Group’s autumn conference on 27 September, which focused on three issues: land grabs, food sovereignty, and women food producers; and three policy processes: UN Committee on World Food Security, CAP reform and Rio +20. Members identified several activities to take this work forward.
 
A public conference entitled The Food Producers: how can they continue feeding the world? took place as part of the UK Food Group autumn conference. It included speakers from a pastoralist community in Kenya, ROPPA (West African Network of Farmers’ Organisations), Via Campesina and the Scottish Crofting Federation.
 
In August, Nyéléni Europe: the European Food Sovereignty Forum was held in Austria with 400 people from 34 European countries. The UK delegation was coordinated by Graciela Romero of War on Want on behalf of the UK Food Group.  The UK Food Group also made a submission to the Environmental Audit Committee’s inquiry on Preparations for Rio +20.

Summer 2011

Using funding from a new EC public awareness consortium project “EuropAfrica: towards food sovereignty”, managed by Practical Action, the UK Food Group has recruited a part-time consultant, who will, over the coming months:

At the end of May, the UKFG organised, through the Gaia Foundation, a meeting of members and others to develop the UK food sovereignty movement and organise participation in the Nyéléni Europe forum in Austria in the autumn.

Spring 2011

Patrick Mulvany, Chair of the UK Food Group, will continue to maintain the network on a part-time voluntary basis, now that funding from the EuropAfrica project has ended.

The UKFG held a well attended meeting on 19 January where around 35 people from the membership highlighted activities in 2010 and exchanged plans for 2011. A summary of activities and a calendar have been organised and formed the basis for a planning meeting of the Management Group in April.

The UKFG is the UK focal point for the More and Better network www.moreandbetter.org with special interest in agricultural investment and ‘models of production’. With support from this network, we have been preparing a meeting in Yaoundé to discuss investment priorities, especially with regard to the Comprehensive African Agricultural Development Programme, with the African farmers’ regional platforms.

This meeting is also being co-sponsored by CONCORD’s European Food Security Group (EFSG) on which the UKFG represents BOND, the UK NGOs in Development network. Among other things, the EFSG is leading a process on interaction with European institutions on the CAP post-2013. The UKFG will be closely monitoring all relevant work, and participating in European and international meetings when possible.

We  also participated in the 6th meeting in February of the European Peasant Seed Network ‘Let’s Liberate Diversity’ in Szeged, Hungary with the Scottish Crofters. The next session will be hosted by the Crofters in Scotland in 2012, with the UKFG and members.  

Winter 2010/2011

The UK Food Group (UKFG) has finalised its work on the EuropAfrica project that ended on 31 December. As part of this project, the UKFG coordinated case studies involving both European and African project partners (EAFF, PROPAC, ROPPA). The studies are on the theme of Models of Production Our focus is especially on sustaining local food webs and how these are central to realising food sovereignty. The case studies will be available online in the first quarter of 2011.
 
The UKFG facilitated exchanges between the project’s European and African partners and supported the travel costs of a delegation led by our EAFF partners to attend a conference organised by the GAIA Foundation Hungary in Budapest in October.
 
At the European level, the UKFG represented BOND in CONCORD’s European Food Security Group (EFSG) meeting on 6 December in Brussels. This was an opportunity to discuss the group’s advocacy plans around the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) reform process and the EU Policy Framework for food security, to get updated on the revision of the Food Aid Convention and to review the 2011 EFSG work plan and processes.
 
The UKFG is also involved in developments of the European Food Sovereignty Network and especially the Nyéléni Europe event that will be held in Austria in August 2011. In February, there will be the 6th meeting of the European Peasant Seed Network ‘Let’s Liberate Diversity’ and the UKFG and its members are involved in preparations.
 
The UKFG is the UK focal point for the “More and Better” network and is a member of its Steering Group. The Network will be supporting the work of the UKFG and some of our members with the African Farmers’ Regional Networks on monitoring new investments in African agriculture.

Autumn 2010

The UK Food Group (UKFG) held a packed and successful conference in London: Securing Future Food on 24 September. It was addressed by Olivier De Schutter, UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, Caroline Lucas MP and Wim Olthof (EC Development) and Sam Bickersteth (DFID). The meeting included European and African Partners.

The European Commission – Civil Society dialogue meeting on the second monitoring report on Advancing African Agriculture was held on 16 September in Brussels. The UKFG helped organise this, which was based on the monitoring report prepared in consultation with the African farmers’ regional platforms. It focused on: the €1billion ‘Food Facility’ and failures in implementating CAP, with an emphasis on the milk crisis and its effects in Africa and the effect of landgrabs on the Right to Food. This report was endorsed by many European civil society organisations.

Summer 2010

The UK Food Group (UKFG) continues to work on global food and agriculture issues and the second management group meeting in 2010 was held on 4 May.

Solidarity between Europe and Africa
We have been preparing the UKFG international conference and the related meetings in late September for the project EuropAfrica – Agro-food policies and regional integration: for a practice of solidarity between Europe and Africa. The all-day international conference ‘Securing Future Food’, will be held on 24 September in Friends House, London. This conference will focus on how local food webs, especially those based on ecological production processes, feed local populations. The conference will also produce a report and we have developed Terms of Reference for case studies for this report to be written by the project partners.

Other European activities
UKFG is the network that represents British Overseas NGOs for Development (BOND) on global food and farming issues, so we attended and helped prepare CONCORD’s Food, Agriculture, Trade and Environment (FATE) Forum on 27 May in Brussels. This was followed by a meeting of the European Food Security Group. Discussions included:

Spring 2010

The UK Food Group (UKFG) continues to work on global food and agriculture issues. EC project 1 works to give African smallholders a voice. The UKFG produced a briefing entitled Securing Future Food: Towards ecological food provision, which shows why we need to make the radical shift towards ecological food provision, to secure future food for the world’s predicted population.
 
The UKFG organised a workshop in February which was followed by an informal meeting with Michael Windfuhr (Bread for The World) and Stuart Clark (Canadian Food Grains Bank – a sister network to the UKFG). These events informed, discussed and deepened understanding of the ways in which implementing the food sovereignty framework and realising the right to food will strengthen our food systems and eradicate hunger, secure livelihoods of food providers and sustain the biosphere.
 
Solidarity between Europe and Africa
EC project 2 looks at solidarity between Europe and Africa. In February, UKFG Chair, Patrick Mulvany, gave a presentation at a seminar on Agro-ecology and Environmental Approaches to Agriculture organised in conjunction with the All Party Parliamentary Group on Agriculture & Food for Development, see http://tinyurl.com/developmenttalk.
 
European Food Declaration
In March the UKFG joined with hundreds of other organisations in launching a European Food Declaration (http://www.europeanfooddeclaration.org/). The declaration outlines principles for a radically new Common Agriculture and Food Policy that would be fair, inclusive, transparent, sustainable and – importantly – have the interests of people rather than corporations at its centre.
 
Food, Agriculture, Trade and the Environment
We are the network that represents British Overseas NGOs for Development (BOND) on global food and farming issues, and we attended the CONCORD’s European Food Security Group (EFSG) meeting in February in Brussels. This was the opportunity to discuss the Food, Agriculture, Trade and Environment (FATE) Forum which will be held in May and which the UKFG will help to prepare. The meeting also updated people on the development of the Committee on World Food Security and its High Level Expert Panel. 

Winter 2009/2010

African smallholders
We continue to work on the two European Commission funded projects.  EC project 1 concerns African smallholders in focus - a voice in EU trade policy. The UKFG briefing, Hidden Threats: an analysis of IPRs in European trade deals, has now been translated into French. It has been distributed to ACP delegates and others at several meetings in Brussels and Rome, as well as distributed in the UK, and been widely welcomed.

Food Sovereignty
The UKFG organised a workshop on 10 November in preparation for the official CSO Forum for People’s Food Sovereignty Now! (13 - 17 November) and the World Summit on Food Security (16 - 18 November). UKFG members helped organise one of the Forum’s four themes “How is food produced?”.  A letter related to the Summit, co-signed by members of the UK Food Group, was published on 23 November in the Guardian. It emphasised the need to implement the reform of the FAO committee on world food security with the inclusion of representatives of small-scale food providers.

Aid for agriculture
The campaign for More and Better aid to agriculture, of which the UKFG is a member, finalised its report, Polices and Actions to eradicate hunger and malnutrition, with a lot of input from UKFG members. It was used as background for the Rome forum.

Solidarity between Europe and Africa
EC project 2 concerns agri-food policies and regional integration: for a practice of solidarity between Europe and Africa. We attended the project’s planning meeting on 19 November in Rome. It was the opportunity to reflect on the last two years’ work and for the UK Food Group to present its plans for the third year which it will coordinate. The theme for year three is Models of Production and the plans will involve an exchange conference in London.

Autumn 2009

Intellectual property rights
A policy briefing Hidden Threats: An analysis of intellectual property rights in EU-ACP economic partnership agreements: unveiling the hidden threats to securing food supplies and conserving agricultural biodiversity, was published on 28 September. This briefing provides an overview of how international rules on intellectual property rights, as proposed to be included in the Economic Partnership Agreements (EPA) texts, add significant challenges and threats to securing food supplies, food sovereignty and the sustainable use and conservation of agricultural biodiversity, especially in African, Caribbean and Pacific countries.
 
This publication was presented at the UK Food Group’s conference Rewriting the Rules to Secure our Future Food, which discussed and proposed changes to national and international rules and regulations that should be rewritten if we are to secure future food supplies in ways that are socially and environmentally sustainable. We also organised a Speaker Tour which provided an opportunity for African partners to talk with UK farmers in the midlands and to present their views about EPAs to DFID.
 
African smallholders
The UK Food Group also co-organised a workshop with FIAN International in Lancaster in September. This workshop was the opportunity to discuss extra-territorial obligations and the right to food of small farmers in Africa.

Solidarity between Europe and Africa
As part of a second EC project, Agro-food Policies and Regional Integration: For a practice of solidarity between Europe and Africa, we attended the project’s second international congress entitled Strengthening the Market Power of Agricultural Producers – Instruments and constraints that was organised in October in Brussels. This conference was the opportunity to discuss ways to strengthen the market power of producers.

Global food issues
In our role as the network that represents British Overseas NGOs for Development (BOND) on global food and farming issues, we attended the CONCORD’s European Food Security Group (EFSG) meeting in October. Meeting participants discussed the common position on the reform of the FAO Committee on Food Security (CFS); the November World Food Summit in Rome; and work on Advancing African Agriculture; which the UK Food Group has helped to coordinate.

Summer 2009

The UK Food Group has continued to work on the two European Commission funded projects. The text of the policy briefing that will summarise the threats of Intellectual Property Rights clauses in free trade agreements - especially EU-African Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) - has been finalised. The photo exhibition about the impact of EPAs on the livelihoods of small farmers in Africa was displayed in April at an event organised by a local World Development Movement group and also the EU election hustings organised by British Overseas NGOs for Development (BOND) in the Amnesty International UK offices in May.

UKFG is the network that represents BOND on global food and farming issues. We attended their EU Committee meeting in June and CONCORD's European Food Security Group (EFSG) planning meeting in Brussels in May during which the role of NGOs/CONCORD in the renewal process of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) was discussed.

In addition to European work, the UKFG submitted evidence to the All Party Parliamentary Group on Agriculture and Food for Development for their enquiry on Global Food Security. The UKFG also produced a submission for the UK White Paper Process "Securing our Common Future".

Spring 2009

The AGM was held on 24 February at the Friends House, London and was followed by “Soya, Amazon destruction and Climate Change – a perspective from Brazil”.  The UKFG also participated in “Securing our Common Future”, an event to launch the White Paper by the Department for International Development (DfID); the British Overseas NGOs for Development (BOND) consultation on the White Paper; and oral evidence sessions of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Agriculture and Food for Development for their enquiry on Global Food Security.

The brochure that will summarise the threats of intellectual property rights clauses in free trade agreements, especially between the EU and Africa, is now in its final stages.

In January, Patrick Mulvany participated in the High Level Conference on Food Security in Madrid and an EU meeting on Advancing African Agriculture in February in Brussels.  This year's work includes a study on supply management policies, follow up on UN reform processes, and work on models of production. Also in February Patrick participated in Seedy Sunday in Brighton and in the Steering Group for the European Peasant Seeds network.

On 30 March a delegation of UKFG members met John Barrett, a senior DfID official, to discuss developing new policies in the light of the White Paper, UN reforms and the findings of the International Assessment of Agricultural Science and Technology for Development.

Winter 2008/9

On 30 October, the UKFG organised Agriculture at a Crossroads: Implementing the findings of the international agriculture assessment. The UKFG, Sustain and Friends of the Earth will co-host another meeting on 24 February.

In December, Patrick Mulvany helped organise and participated in a seminar in Paris on the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) post-2013. He co-presented at a session on food sovereignty with Via Campesina Europe, and the meeting resulted in an agreement to focus lobbying on a new food and agriculture policy for Europe rather than for a continuation of the CAP, per se.

UKFG represents British Overseas NGOs for Development (BOND) on global food and farming issues, and so attended BOND's EU Committee Planning meeting in December and BOND's 2008 AGM in November. UKFG also attended CONCORD's European Food Security Group planning meeting in Brussels on 1 December during which the role of NGOs/CONCORD in the renewal process of the Food and Agriculture Organization was discussed, and a work plan for 2009 was agreed.

Autumn 2008

On 14 October a small delegation of UKFG members was invited to meet with the Director General of FAO, Jacques Diouf, to discuss the work of the FAO and the interface that UK NGOs have with the organisation, and the long-term measures that are necessary to confront the underlying problems and the reform of FAO.

A brochure summarising the findings of the first Fact Finding Mission in Ghana is being translated and will shortly be available in English. A publication is also planned to summarise the threats of Intellectual Property Rights clauses in Free Trade Agreements.

In August, UKFG organised a visit by Via Campesina Austria to the Black Isle Show and to meet with Scottish crofters. The coordinator attended a seminar on family farming organised by the network  held in Paris on 16 September as well as an event on the health check and future of the Common Agricultural Policy.

A UK case study on the history, nature and challenges of small-scale farming and the CAP was presented to an international meeting.

UKFG is the network that represents British Overseas NGOs for Development (BOND) on global food and farming issues, and attended BOND's EU Committee Planning meeting in August. UKFG also attended CONCORD's European Food Security Group (EFSG) meeting in Paris on 16 September which, among other things, developed the EFSG position on the Food Price Crisis.

Summer 2008

The second 2008 UK Food Group Management Group meeting was held on 10 May, and the third will be held on 30 July.

EC project 1:
Spotlight on the marginalised: strengthening the position of smallholders in European trade policy
UK Food Group project officer Geraldine Galvaing attended this project’s second 2008 planning meeting which was held in conjunction with a meeting on Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) in Amsterdam on 16-18 June. This developed a programme of activities for EU public interest groups on EPA negotiations for the next 12 months. Geraldine is also in the process of finalising a photo exhibition together with the other members of the Consortium. The report of the fact-finding mission to Uganda (where Geraldine participated in April) is being prepared by a member of the European Consortium but, in brief, it was a successful event that included a number of interviews with local organisations of, for example, small farmers.

EC project 2:
Agro-food policies and regional integration: for a practice of solidarity between Europe and  Africa
Patrick attended the Convention on Biodiversity / 9th meeting of the Conference of the Parties held in Bonn from 19 to 30 May 2008 and the UN Food Summit and Civil Society forum ‘Terra Preta’ in Rome from 1 to 5 June. Geraldine contributed to a seminar on the Common Agricultural Policy and the health check process organised by the French speaking food sovereignty platform held in Brussels on 12 June and Patrick attended the International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements World Congress on 16-20 June in Modena. Patrick also attended the regional Food and Agriculture Organisation's consultation for non-governmental organisations (NGOs) for Europe, the FAO Regional Conference for Europe and a European Platform for Food Sovereignty meeting in Innsbruck on 23-27 June.

Non-EC funded work
On 5 June a small delegation of UKFG members met with the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for International Development, Gillian Merron, to introduce her to the UKFG, highlight key issues related to food, smallholder agriculture and the environment, indicate where the UKFG sees ways forward and offer facilitation of NGO participation in the review of the Department for International Development's (DFID) 2005 Agriculture Policy. The UK Food Group also organised a Roundtable on the Global Food Crisis on 10 June during which participants were given the opportunity to exchange ideas on the food crisis and to discuss possible future common action.

The UKFG submitted a Memorandum to the International Development Committee for their enquiry on global food security and the World Food Programme, the report of which was published on 23 July.

Being the network that represents British Overseas NGOs for Development (BOND) on global food and farming issues, UKFG attended BOND’s EU Committee Planning meeting on 20 May and CONCORD’s European Food Security Group (EFSG) meeting in Brussels on 13 June.  Geraldine was selected to join the Steering Group that will support the Chairs in developing the work of EFSG. The role of the EFSG is important in preparing for the Euro-elections in 2009.
 

Spring 2008

In February, Sustain and UK Food Group agreed the final details of Sustain providing management and accountancy support to the network. The UK Food Group will retain its independence, identity and current structure including the Management Group, which includes Sustain coordinator Jeanette Longfield as Treasurer and the UK Food Group's Patrick Mulvaney as a Sustain trustee. It will also retain its own working groups and specific projects, for example the European Commission (EC) projects reported on below. The EC funding for these projects provides the majority of the funding for the UKFG coordinator, Geraldine Galvaing. 

EC project 1: Spotlight on the marginalised
Spotlight on the marginalised: strengthening the position of smallholders in European trade policy is an EC-funded project with the UK Food Group in partnership with sustainable development bodies Germanwatch and BothEnds, FIAN (an international NGO campaigning for the right to food), and a number of African organisations. A main aim of the project is to highlight the effects of European policies, particularly Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs), on the livelihoods of smallholder farmers. Geraldine has been engaged in a number of planning meetings for this project with the partners and, with Quoc-anh, has been grappling with the complexities of EC funding. Currently, Geraldine is on a fact-finding mission to Uganda, and will be helping to launch a photo exhibition on her return.

EC project 2: Agro-food policies and regional integration
The UKFG is also part of another EC partnership project, organised by Practical Action, with Italian, Belgian, Hungarian and African partners including ROPPA (the West African regional network of smallholder farmers). Titled “Agro-food policies and regional integration: for a practice of solidarity between Europe and Africa”, the project will disseminate information about different models of agricultural production, as promoted by farmers’ organisations, governments and aid agencies, through the lens of food sovereignty. Two steering committee meetings were held in Rome on 10-11 January and 17 February to plan activities for 2008.

Non-EC funded work
As part of Geraldine’s work with UKFG member organisations, she has arranged and/or participated in a number of other meetings, including a discussion around Geoff Tansey’s new book, The Future Control of Food, on 11 February. This stimulated a lively discussion about the impact of Intellectual Property Rights and their impact on the food and farming system. The UKFG is also the network that represents the British Overseas NGOs for Development (BOND) on food and farming issues. As such Geraldine attended BOND’s EU Committee Planning meeting in Brussels in March, and combined this with a number of other relevant meetings in Brussels around that time.
 

Winter 2007-08

The UK Food Group will hold its next meeting on 11 February, coinciding with the launch of Geoff Tansey’s new book, The Future Control of Food.

Geraldine Galvaing, the new UK Food Group Co-ordinator, began work in November. Due to this change, and other demands on Geraldine’s time, there has not been a recent meeting of joint Sustain / UK Food Group working party. However, options for work in this area will be brought to the April Council meeting for discussion. 
 

Autumn 2007

Sustain's coordinator Jeanette Longfield attended a small meeting in September, hosted by Caroline Lucas MEP, to discuss the threat to human health and to the livelihoods of poor farmers from avian flu and the growing evidence linking its global spread to intensive poultry farming, rather than wild birds. Michael Gregor, Director of Public Health and Animal Agriculture at the Humane Society in the USA, joined the meeting by teleconference. He is also author of Bird Flu: A virus of our own hatching, and will be visiting the UK and other EU countries in November. An event is scheduled for 26 November, and Sustain has been asked to co-sign a letter inviting people to the event, in association with Compassion in World Farming, the Organic Research Centre – Elm Farm, and the Royal Society of Health.
 

Summer 2007

A well-attended meeting of the UK Food Group and Sustain joint Working Group on Agricultural Production, Technology and Trade was held at the Sustain offices on 7 June. The meeting discussed:

Other plans for World Food Day included ideas for:

Spring 2007

The UK Food Group / Sustain joint working party on Agricultural Production, Technology and Trade was held on 14 March at the Commonwealth Club, where the main focus of the discussion was:

Interest was also expressed in work on biofuels, which gained further momentum with George Monbiot calling in The Guardian for a Five Year Freeze moratorium campaign on biofuels. Patrick Mulvany of UK Food Group, Pete Riley of Five Year Freeze, and Anthony Jackson of Munlochy GM Vigil are interested in organising a Biofuels Roundtable Meeting in late May or early June, bringing together senior participants and small farmers from countries of the South and campaigners from the North, to discuss:

Winter 2006-07

Sustain and the UK Food Group have been consulting widely on new areas for policy activities. Conversations in this quarter have included: