Toward Life-Enhancing Agriculture
Edited by Athena Peralta
Responding to food security and agriculture challenges, the World Council of Churches (WCC) and Bread for all (Bfa) initiated a project aptly titled “From the Financialization of Food to Life-enhancing Agriculture” with the following aims: to better understand the connections between food and finance; to explore agricultural production and investment models that are not beholden to the profit logic, that foster just economic relationships and that encourage ecological renewal; and to map out ways in which churches and church-related organizations can respond through critical theological reflection, advocacy for policy changes and institutional transformation, and investing in alternatives within their communities.
As part of project, the WCC and Bfa commissioned the two studies contained in this volume to shed light on the role, channels of influence, and impacts of financial institutions and players – especially philanthropic foundations and international development banks – in agricultural production and distribution. These actors shape and affect the global food regime not only through hedging and speculation, but also through their traditional role of providing credit, and through direct or third party large-scale investments in farming and farmlands.