This statement is submitted by the Center for Community Change, Center of Concern, Delmarva Community Alliance, and the National Poultry Justice Alliance and reflects the issues and concerns raised at our workshop at the U.S. Social Forum.

We call on our governments to ensure, and challenge our brothers and sisters in the progressive movement to support:

• A food supply that is healthy for consumers and is grown, produced, and processed in manner that does not pollute the water, soil, or air;
• A food system that recognizes and respects the dignity of those who grow, harvest, process and distribute the food we eat by ensuring that all farmers and workers are treated with dignity and receive fair and liveable remuneration for their labor and investment;
• Food policies to reverse the current trend toward overproduction and exportation which harms small producers and consumers in the countries we trade with and instead advance a return to local production for local consumption;
• Food sovereignty and food security as fundamental rights which must be recognized for both the U.S. and our trading partners;
• A new process for deciding food and agricultural policy that includes the interests of a broader spectrum of those involved in growing and processing our food: small farmers, growers, farm and processing workers, public health representatives, and consumers; and
• Government investment in sustainable, local agricultural alternatives.

We call for:

• The immediate defeat of the pending free trade agreements with Peru, Panama, Colombia, and South Korea which commodify food when it should be valued as essential to human society;
• The inclusion of the Competition Title and Food from Family Farms Act in the next Farm Bill; and
• The implementation and enforcement of OSHA poultry ergonomic standards.