Seeds, Stories & Solidarity (Fall 2025) - Magazine - Page 10
Roots
of
Food
Sovereignty
Our dignity is rooted in our ability
to decide for ourselves what kind
of food system is best for our own
communities.
L
a Vía Campesina first introduced the phrase “food
sovereignty” at the World Food Summit in Rome
in 1996, just a few years after the organization’s
founding. Since then, food sovereignty has grown and
spread, adapted and transmuted, but retains its core
tenet: that our dignity is rooted in our ability as producers,
workers, and consumers to decide for ourselves what
kind of food—and food production, processing, and
distribution—is best for our own family, community, and
nation.
Widely considered the world’s largest social movement,
La Vía Campesina has 180 local and national member
organizations in 81 countries, representing 200 million
people whose livelihoods depend directly on the land:
self-identified peasants, small farmers, fishers, Indigenous
peoples, and agricultural workers.
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