Today, we are in a worldwide struggle for control of our food and water. Over the past 100 years, food production has changed dramatically. Food is no longer just a sustainer of life –– it is a profit center for large multinational corporations. Family farmers and fishermen are facing bankruptcy and relocation to large urban slums. The work of producing our food, replaced by large corporate enterprises.

Large corporations have taken aim on family farms for decades, but they have also begun to encroach on our oceans, vying to parcel off the waters into private chunks so they can create massive fish farms and develop private monopolies over the right to fish.

And water is often cited as the “oil of the 21st century. As corporations jockey for ownership of water sources, including in some cases rainwater, our municipal water systems are in danger of falling apart dues to a lack of funding.

Food & Water Watch is advocates for a healthy food system and safe, affordable water around the world.  Watch this section of our website for more information on our work, especially in Europe, Latin America, Africa.

Groups Call to Support People in Kenya, Not Corporate Flower Farms

On January 31, 2008, Public interest organizations in Canada, Europe, Kenya, and the United States called on the international community to help the people suffering from violence in the Lake Naivasha region of Kenya, not the global industrial flower farms that exploit the lake and its people. Food & Water Watch and the Council of Canadians released a new report, Lake Naivasha: Withering Under the Assault of International Flower Vendors, highlighting the destructive practices of the flower farms that dominate the region.

What's the beef with Brazilian beef?

Beef from Brazil may taste fine and have an attractive price, but the reasons to ban it from being imported into the European Union are beginning to mount. For example, despite the EU’s 176 percent tariff on Brazilian beef, cattle farmers in Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Italy and elsewhere say the imported meat is still so cheap that it threatens to put them out of business. The Beef With Brazilian Beef addresses the numerous environmental and economical concerns surrounding this meat import.

Did you realize that corporate agriculture has found its way into Africa?

Africa is facing pressure to replace its traditional small scale farming way of life with factory–style food production that emphasizes growing more of fewer types of crops, such as corn, cotton, and sorghum, for export around the world. U.S.–based global agrochemical and grain trading corporations are pushing for greater use of specialty seeds, including genetically engineered varieties, and chemical pesticides and fertilizers to aid the growth of those monoculture export crops. Sowing the Seeds of Corporate Agriculture in Africa investigates the impact of this biotechnology on small–scale farms.

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Defend the Global Commons is our international activist newsletter that provides news updates from water struggles from around the world and communities defending the right to water. Available in English and Spanish.

Agwatch Europe is your inside report on sustainable agriculture and food safety within the European community. Available in English and French.