Dear friend, comrade and supporter,
We are very excited that the dates of the Food Autonomy Festival #7 are finally so close! This month we are mainly going to be busy with the organisation of the two festival locations (in Amsterdam and Utrecht). For this reason, we have 2 FAF#7 pre-events coming up on the 3rd of June. We can’t wait to see you there!
As always, we continue to focus more on our Fossil Free Agriculture campaign, by trying to dismantle colonial, patriarchal, destructive food systems that destroy life! Enemy nr.1 remains, of course, YARA, Europe’s biggest nitrogen fertilizer company that is greenwashing their dirty practices more than ever.
Enjoy reading our newsletter, and we hope to see you soon at one of our upcoming events!
Love & Rage,
the ASEED team
❓ What is the Fossil Free Agriculture Campaign ❓
With this campaign, we aim to expose the corporations that profit from the industrial agriculture system. These corporations contribute substantially to the climate crisis and take a disproportionate amount of the wealth. By focusing on the use of fossil fuels in the corporate-controlled industrial food system, we aim to expand the concept of climate justice to include agricultural justice. We do this by connecting the fossil fuel-focused climate movement and the food sovereignty movements, while opening a conversation about the structural links between the agro-industry and the fossil fuel industry, and the major role they play in the escalating climate, ecological and social crises.
What role does the Netherlands play in this?
The Netherlands functions as Europe’s most important distribution centre for both fossil fuels and industrial agriculture. The largest factory of the biggest nitrogen fertilizer company in the world (YARA) is located in Sluiskil, Zeeland. To make matters worse, this country hosts a huge and ruthless industrial livestock industry and functions as a European hub for the distribution of genetically modified soy imports. On the political level, the Dutch government is enthusiastically promoting the intensification of industrial food production, harmful and undemocratic trade agreements and risky new GMO techniques. Taking action here, in our own back yard, is clearly both urgently necessary and of strategic importance!
Click here to learn more about our campaign!
🌱 LOOKING BACK 🌱
🌿 CoSIYA – Intersectional Food Justice Training 🌿
From November 7th to 14th 2022, the project ‘Co-creating Socially Inclusive Youthwork with Agroecology’ (CoSIYA) brought together 28 youth workers from 9 agroecology, food and eco-social justice initiatives across Europe. During a one-week training coordinated by ASEED, the youth workers visited and learnt from like-minded projects in and around Amsterdam.
CoSIYA consisted in a combination of excursions in various food initiatives in the city/region, interactive and creative workshops, discussion rounds, reflection and co-creation sessions, as well as hands-on activities such as farming. You can learn more about the purpose of the training, the participant organizations and the various activities in this short recently published report.
If you want to read more about the training, check out this article.
Click here to learn more!
🍃 Reading Group #4 on Agroecology & Guerilla Gardening 🍃
Some weeks ago we closed up the circle of Reading Groups for this season. At our fourth and last Reading Group we dove more into the final topic of our Fossil Free Agriculture campaign – agroecology.
As the weather was warm, we met outside at the ”Mahatma Gandhi” garden, where we enjoyed the last hours of sun while gardening, making new friends and drinking mint tea that grew at the herb bed next to us. We discussed about how agroecology poses an alternative to industrial agriculture, how it benefits both local communities and environments, and most importantly, how people can get involved here in Amsterdam!
To help us create an interesting discussion and learn about these topics together, we always invite a guest with particular knowledge on the given topic. This time, our friend David joined us, who is a permaculture specialist on food forests. He prepared a demonstration in order to explain better to us how different plants and ways of farming can retain water, nutrients and life in the soil!
Click here to learn more!
🌾 Agroecology Network Netherlands – Strategy meeting in May 🌾
”A beautiful day hosting a day long strategy session with the Agroecology Network Netherlands at the Stadsboerderij Almere biodynamic farm. What gives this network its strong foundation is the way it centers farmer organisations and is rooted in Nyeleni’s international principles for #agroecology. We were particularly excited about the contribution of Jun Borras of the Institute for Social Studies. You’ll soon hear more about our vision, stories and strategies to transform food systems.” – Janneke
Participants were from: Toekomstboeren, Boerengroep, CSA Netwerk Nederland, Mycelia van Hoop, Transnational Institute, Greenpeace NL, XR Landbouw, Kraaklustig Band, Federatie van Agro-ecologische Boeren, Rural Sociology Group Wageningen University, Cultivate and many others.
If you want to know more about the Agroecology Netwrok Netherlands, check out their webiste here.
Click here to see more!
🌱 NEWS 🌱
Article: A corporate cartel fertilises food inflation
As the world grappled with a severe food crisis and farmers saw costs rise, the world’s largest fertiliser firms ramped up their margins and more than tripled their profits from two years ago. In this short update to the Fertiliser Trap (November 2022), GRAIN and IATP examine how these companies have contributed to the current food crisis by increasing prices far beyond increases to production costs and thereby boosting their profit margins by a massive 36% in 2022. To deal with fertiliser cartel’s profiteering, actions must focus on supporting farmers to reduce or eliminate their use of chemical fertilisers. Such actions can not only bring the costs of fertilisers down, but can also help address the climate crisis and its impacts on food production, since chemical fertilisers are a leading source of greenhouse gas emissions.
Read the full article by GRAIN here!
Special report: Breaking the Cycle of Unsustainable Food Systems, Hunger, and Debt
The food price crisis is entering a dangerous new phase – a debt crisis that is plunging millions more into hunger. Although food prices have receded from 2022’s record highs, public finances in low-income countries are being buffeted by sky-high import costs for food, fertilizers, and energy, and rapidly-rising interest rates. 60% of low-income countries and 30% of middle-income countries are now considered at high risk of, or already in, debt distress; while some 21 countries are nearing catastrophic levels of both debt distress and food insecurity.
A Special Report by IPES-Food, released some weeks ago as global leaders meet to address challenges faced by the world’s Least Developed Countries, warns that our unsustainable and inequitable global food systems are a major driver of the debt crisis. Import dependencies, extractive financial flows, boom-bust commodity cycles, and climate-vulnerable food systems are combining to destabilize the finances of the world’s poorest countries. In turn, unsustainable debt leaves countries critically exposed to shocks and undermines their ability to invest in climate-resilient food production and food security.
Read the full report by IPES Food here!
Article: Why we’re not calling it “natural gas” anymore
The fossil fuel industry is greenwashing gas by calling it ‘natural’. Climate scientists say gas is a highly-polluting fossil fuel that threatens our future. But industry-founded scientists and Republican politicians say it’s ‘clean energy’.
Fossil fuel companies have already have already influenced some lawmakers in the EU and US to include gas in their definition of ‘clean energy’. This does not bode well for the planet. This false debate over gas is one of the most dangerous emerging examples of journalistic false balance. That’s why we are no longer going to refer to gas as ‘natural’. Instead, we are going to refer it as methane gas.
Read the full article by Heated here!
🌱 UPCOMING 🌱
🐙 Pre-event: Food Autonomy Festival #7 – Gardening at Krakenburg 🐙
03/06/2023, 11:00-16:00
[@Krakenburg: Laan van Kronenburg 12, Amstelveen]
As part of the Food Autonomy Festival we are excited to announce another special edition of Mycelia van Hoop on 3rd of June.
As some of you might have heard, there is a new squat in town. A new free space in Amstelveen! The piece of land has been empty for almost 10 years, and belongs to the municipality who hasn’t been able to use it due to the noise from mass polluter Schipol. This is unacceptable in times of housing crisis and so we are taking matters into our own hands. We want to make a beautiful place with a shared garden, where everyone can get involved to transform it into an anticapitalist space that everyone can enjoy.
Since we fully support this, we thought of a way we could help them out. We overheard they are planning on turning a big chunk of the space into a beautiful and lush garden for the community. So we figured it would be a great idea to set up a working day so we can permablitz the hell out of this space!
Are you free on the 3rd of June and do you want to help us create a garden for the new squat? Then please come and join us! We have some gardening tools available, but if you have your own, please bring them!
If you have any questions/remarks please let us know! Since we are going to go to an active squat, we ask people to be extra mindful and to not take/publish any pictures without consent, especially if there are people in it. If you are not familiar yet with security culture, please inform yourself beforehand if you are able to!
Click here to learn more!
🌾 Pre-event: Food Autonomy Festival #7 – Movie Screening 🌾
03/06/2023, 20:30-23:00
[@Filmhuis Cavia: Van Hallstraat 52-I, 1051 HH, Amsterdam]
On Saturday 3rd June at 20:30 we will have a movie screening at Filmhuis Cavia of ‘Frutos de Resistencia’ & Minga, voices of resistance’!
As this year’s edition has a special focus on movement building, we want to introduce this theme by connecting farmworker, indigenous and peasant struggles against industrial food systems. From South America to Spain, the two films we will screen, Minga and Frutos de Resistencia, capture different struggles in relation to agriculture, rights, and the power of strong communities.
The donations gathered are to support the production of the movies!
Let’s come together to connect, co-learn and resist!
Click here for more information & to get tickets!
🌸 FAF#7: Awareness Team 🌸
Would you like to participate in this year’s edition of the FAF? Are you motivated to take an active part in organisation of the festival? Do you have a couple of spare hours or days to help out? Then join us between 9-11 June at ADM Noord in Amsterdam as a volunteer. Send us an email as soon as possible, if you want to help out and/or participate at the training!
Click here to learn more about the awareness team!If you want to volunteer, you can join a training on conflict resolution:
When: Monday 5th June, 17:00-19:30
Where: Dokhuis, Amsterdam [confirmation will follow soon]
By who: the Stroomversnellers
For who: awareness volunteers (of both cities) & the ASEED team
Price: free
Follow up: there will be a session for the core awareness teams after the FAFs to look at how specific situations were handled, as a learning opportunity for both us and the trainers. We don’t have a date for that yet, and will let you know if there end up being open spaces for people who also generally do awareness work.
You can find more information about the training here and here.
Send us an email as soon as possible, if you want to help out and/or participate at the training!
Click here to learn more about the awareness team!
🌱 Food Autonomy Festival #7 – Amsterdam 🌱
”Connecting movements for fossil fuel free agriculture”
On the 9th, 10th, and 11th of June, we will come together at ADM Noord / Het Groene Veld (Buikslotermeerdijk 95) in Amsterdam to explore alternatives for a viable, just, sustainable, and fossil-free agricultural system and world. Through open discussions, workshops, hands-on farming activities and cultural events we aim to find common ground where movements fighting for social, climate and agricultural justice can meet.
The festival will be structured around four main themes:
· Resisting a Fossil-fueled and Oppressive (Food) System
· Strategies to Build and Connect Movements
· Regenerative Culture
· Food Autonomy through Practices / Agroecology in practice
Compost agribussiness! Compost the fossil industry! Fossil Free Agriculture now!
Click here to learn more!
🌱 Food Autonomy Festival #7 – Utrecht 🌱
(17-18 June)
We are very excited to announce that the Food Autonomy Festival is coming to Utrecht again this year!
On the 17th of June: Farm tour! Join to visit some local farms in Utrecht. We will cycle there together and spend some hours from 10am-5pm exploring the farms and meeting the people involved.
Please sign up until the 14th of Junehere if you would like to join us.
On the 18th of June at Centrum EMMA in Utrecht: Festival day! This will include workshops and discussions around food autonomy, skill sharing, music, children’s program, opportunities to relax in the garden and much more…
Keep an eye on our social media and this page for more information about the program and what exciting things we are getting ready for you.
[poster by @bbombarius]
Click here to learn more!
ASEED is a grassroots and volunteer-based organisation.
Would you like to become involved as well?
Then feel very welcome to join one of our upcoming events & meetings!
If you want to help out at any of our events,
send us an email at info@aseed.net!!!
If you would like to know more or join us in the movement to protect our veggies and our planet, check out our website!
🌱 🌱 🌱
Unfortunately, revolution is not for free…
In order for ASEED to hold meetings, print flyers and posters, and organize infrastructure for the Food Autonomy Festival, we need funding. If you believe in what we do, please consider donating to support our work, any amount is highly appreciated!
