The Landworkers Alliance
We are members of the Landworkers Alliance – a group of people who work the land, campaigning for the rights of small producers and a better food system. It is part of La Via Campesina international and works in solidarity with fellow land workers across the globe.
The Land Workers’ Alliance is a coalition of producers meaning that membership is open to anyone who is actively involved in food, fuel or fibre production. The co-ordination will bring together like-minded producers to identify and organise targeted campaigns and lobby UK and European parliaments on issues affecting the livelihoods of small-scale producers. The organisation will also provide a network for producers to share farming skills and knowledge through training, tours and working groups.
Central to it’s identity is the campaign for Food Sovereignty launched by Via Campesina in 1996 and defined as – “The right of communities to define their own food and farming systems”.
In practice food sovereignty describes the way farm shops, farmers’ markets and local box-schemes already connect producers and consumers across the UK today. While many farmers are associated with existing unions in the UK, Via Campesina is unique in offering a direct link to the activities and experiences of like-minded producers across Europe, and the rest of the world.
We’d urge our friends who are also producers to join and show their support. Its quite a mainland-centric setup at the moment, but these things are what you make of them, so join in.
