World leaders, wanting desperately to end the cycle of economic crisis and war, worked to create a system of global economic cooperation designed to ensure that basic needs would be met for everyone, everywhere. A cluster of international institutions was created to accomplish this goal. The Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy is sponsoring this seminar featuring founders and early leaders of the FAO to honor their original contribution and to get their insights into the challenges that lie ahead. The Brazilian Hunger Campaign, begun in 1993, has reoriented the way food is produced and distributed in Brazil. It is both an emergency food program and a larger social movement designed to eliminate hunger through decentralized civic action at the grassroots.
Sustainable agriculture is key to such an effort.
Electronic communications serving groups involved in sustainable agriculture have evolved in many directions in the past few years. This workshop will feature access to agricultural databases and email newsgroups providing information and networking valuable to farmers, scientists, NGOs and policymakers. Additional hands-on workshops for those interested in the basics of computer based communications will also be scheduled. Government agencies, the research community and NGOs are actively engaged in processes of identifying indicators of agricultural sustainability and unsustainability. This work is adirect consequence of mandates for sustainability in agricultural research and development at national and international levels.