No land grab in Thailand, for now...

From the Food Crisis and Global Land Grab blog:

Thailand says no to farm investment by foreigners

BANGKOK, June 23 (Reuters) - Thailand said on Tuesday it would not allow foreigners to invest in farming and livestock businesses in the country, after requests from several Arab investors.

“According to our laws and our policy, foreigners or foreign companies are not allowed to rent or buy land to grow rice or any kind of food, including raising any livestock in Thailand,” Deputy Commerce Minister Alonkorn Pollabutr told reporters.

He referred to Thailand’s Foreign Business Act (1999), which forbids foreigners from owning businesses relating to farming and livestock.

Thailand is the world’s biggest rice and rubber exporter, producing around 30 million tonnes of paddy and around 3 million tonnes of rubber sheet annually.

The law allows foreigners to run farm businesses in Thailand in the form of a joint-venture company in which Thais must own at least 51 percent.

Gulf Arab countries are targeting investments in farmland and agricultural businesses in developing countries after rampant inflation last year highlighted their dependence on food imports.

Bahrain-based Islamic bank Al Salam has signed an agreement with Thai agriculture and food company Charoen Pokphand Foods to jointly invest in agricultural businesses.

Alongkorn said several countries had expressed interest in investing in growing food in Thailand since he made official visits to the Middle East from March.

The issue was expected to be raised in the first ministerial meeting between Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries and the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) on June 29-30 in Manama.

The GCC groups Oman, Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

I think this is one of the more sensible Thai laws. Denying this land grab (backed by CP, no surprise) sends an important message about agricultural land in the Global South. National food security in the Middle East is more important than trying to circumvent the global market for surplus grain and future hoarding/speculation. If only Thailand's neighboring countries would reject these land grabs as well.

from Hong Kong

Spent last week in Hong Kong - a surprisingly green (and expensive) city. Lots of incredible food and fun times. Got to meet with Fair Partners - but more on this in the next post. A number of shops and restaurants sold organic, Fair Trade coffee - it seems like there is a "green consumer" base on the island. The cost of living is so high that it seems like any premium is worth paying. There are beautiful, old Chinese working bikes with double top tubes and huge front racks, but they were only ridden by old Chinese men.

Here are some of Dan's photos from our trip:

On one of our first mornings, Nolan took us out to Red Pepper for some amazing Szechuan food - everything burned like back in Thailand, but had an unbelievable range of flavors. The Chinese eat a lot less rice than Thais, so we didn't have a big plate of rice to balance out our pallets. We walked out of the place completely overwhelmed (only to expect a classic American BBQ at the American Club for dinner). The foot traffic around Causeway Bay almost took me out. Below are some really nice looking planters we passed on the way to lunch. They were organized by some neighborhood group. No one was growing food, but I could see these fitting in well on sidewalks all over Southeast Asia:



We took the ferry out to Lamma island on one of our first days. Most homes had small gardens with papaya and lime trees in abundance. If I lived in Hong Kong, this would be the place to stay. According to my friend Diane, it's the "hippy island" and compared to the pace of life in Central, I see what she means. There was a natural foods store on Lamma Island - walking inside was like going to Morning Glory Natural Foods in Brunswick, ME - hemp scent and all.
We ate at this incredible seafood restaurant when we got off the ferry. Clams in a spicy black bean sauce, sweet and sour fried grouper, crab in a garlic sauce, garlic shrimp, honey and black pepper shrimp, and on and on. There were a number of small shellfishermen in the harbor, I guess many of the fishermen live in the shacks on their raft of nets. After reading this article in the New York Times a few years back, I had much worse images in my mind, but the island was clean and the food was delicious. We hiked to the other side of the island to find a large power plant and a singular wind turbine - quite the dichotomy. But perhaps it's symbolic for China's growth? We later went to Macau (bad decision) and saw a large hillside covered in turbines. It's kind of like China is using all the coal it can get it's hands on first, and then building up a green infrastructure as back-up.

Later in the week, we headed out to what we thought was Kowloon, but turned out to be the New Territories. Our friend Sandy told us about the Tai Po Market, so we took the train to check it out. I guess it was technically mainland China, because gone were all the white people and high-end restaurants and bars. We made our way to the market and were amazed by all the seafood and meats on the first floor:
The whole thing was great, and it was nice to get a sense for how urban folks in the New Territories shop for fresh foods. Below, granny smith apples and lemons from the U.S. Mangoes, probably from Thailand.
The market was pretty huge and clean, but mostly conventional produce was being sold. We couldn't really talk to anyone there beyond smiles and stares, but as Dan was asking me if I thought some of the produce was chemical-free, I saw some pretty organic-looking carrots and was surprised to see this:
We had walked into the organic section of the market. There were probably 10 different vendors, all selling very attractive, certified organic produce. It was a nice thing to experience, and I think speaks loudly about where urban consumers in this part of China are heading. For organic producers to have their own section of a large, busy market like Tai Po is really impressive and it must mean they have a decent market share. Below, Dan contemplates the roasted duck he wants to eat while staring at organic veggies, really nice looking (native?) corn, and a few advertisements for local CSAs.


I got to nerd out on local food info and Dan got his duck. We ate it in the upstairs cafeteria with some watery coffee and a very confused Chinese waitress. The soup they were serving looked like a really bland ก๋วยเตี๋ยวน้ำ noodle soup, so I think we made the right choice. Hong Kong was full of surprises, but I am really impressed. Next time I need a breakfast sandwich and I've got $200 to blow, I'm heading back.

If anyone can read the Chinese on the second to last photo, I would love to know what it means.

Tabthai to Bangkok and Back

I just found out about my friend Dan's blog - The Last Blog (บลอกสุดท้าย) - he's living in Bangkok building acoustic guitars and hanging out with applied arts students from Chulalongkorn University (also trying to find employment in the Green Building world...). He's also a really talented photographer. Dan and I stayed together (along with Sandy Chapman, who begins his internship with the Thailand Development Research Institute this week) with Bruan and Chaba Tandee when we were students with CIEE in Fall 2006. They are a young organic farming family and have worked with SFS for several years. Below are some photos from December 2006, when Dan and I visited after ending our semester:
In 2006 and 2007, Bruan left his bean patch after the New Years to work construction in Bangkok - this year, Chaba joined him. I wanted to share one Dan's recent blog posts about visiting our "family," as they worked construction in Bangkok for this year's dry season. After my family visited Tabthai village in late December and the New Year's festivities were over, Bruan and Chaba left their children in the care of their grandparents and headed for the big city. Here's Dan's post from April:

Visiting my parents

When I studied in Thailand 3 years ago, I stayed with a family in Surin Province that grew organic rice and other crops. The 5 days that I stayed there were some of the best of my semester, which is why I went back to visit them a few times. Last year one of my home-stay parent's lost their mother. At the end of the growing season they harvested all their rice, but instead of selling it they stored it for their kids and relatives and moved to Bangkok to work. In order to make merit for the temple they needed to make more money than their harvest would provide, so they came to work in construction just outside of Bangkok. Last week I went to visit them before they returned home to Surin for the New Year. They were working on a restaurant behind a gas station near Rama 2 Road. About 30 minutes from my apartment (without traffic). The day I went to see them, they were pouring the cement framing of the restaurant.

There were 7 other people working at the site, and with me and my parents we had 10 hands. The work went pretty fast as I helped them in an assembly-line fashion. Wearing jeans that day was a bad idea, as I was drenched in sweat and cement in the end.

We finished pouring the cement around 6:30, just as the sun was disappearing behind the distant skyscrapers, and went into their home for some dinner and rice whiskey. We sat in my parents room, drinking rice whiskey and eating chips and cookies that I had brought for them. We talked about Isaan, the northeast of Thailand where they all came from. They invited me to come see them at their homes, which I'm planning on doing soon.


Thanks to Dan for the blog post and photos. Chaba and Bruan have been back home since the Songkran holidays in mid-April and will be starting their rainy season rice transplanting soon. Organic farming has proven to be a sustainable livelihood for their young family, but their decision not to sell rice this season and the financial burdens of merit-making has has a real impact on their way of life. This family rents 6 rai of land (just over 2 acres, for the cost of rice) and will need to consume much of their rice production over the course of the year. Thankfully, however, weekly income from the Green Market is enough to cover costs of living (below, Chaba butchering organic pork at the Thurs. mobile Green Market).

When funerals are organized, families will spend much of their savings on music and dance performances, elaborate menus and donations to the local temple. There is a real social pressure to make the funeral as elaborate and attractive as possible. Those who attend the funeral traditionally bring a small donation and some uncooked rice, but it is often not enough to cover all costs. All of these elements combine into a complicated social and financial situation for small-scale farming families like the SFS members in Tabthai village. The transition to genuine sustainability can be a long one, especially for families with little to no financial resources. The challenges presented by social structure and changing norms about merit-making may be something organic farming cannot yet reasonably approach, but the Isaan farmers' struggle for food sovereignty and healthy, sustainable communities will continue...

Organic Ag. in India!

Here's a great story about India's response to the Green Revolution. These farmers' experiences are really similar to those in Thailand and though they've only been at it for 5 years, their yields will improve. But beyond yields, these farmers are growing a diversity of crops that provide seasonal foods and more income. It's a completely different story from this one from a couple months ago.

When is NPR going to write a story like this about organic farming here in Thailand?



In India, Bucking The 'Revolution' By Going Organic

by Daniel Zwerdling

Morning Edition, June 1, 2009 · Indian farmer Amarjit Sharma grows wheat and other crops on five acres in the heart of the region known as "the breadbasket of India," the fertile fields of Punjab.

Until four years ago, he was the kind of farmer whom government leaders and agricultural scientists hailed as a model in the developing world.

But now, he has gone organic and is part of a quiet but growing rebellion, which could affect the world's food crisis.

Decades ago, when the modern, chemical-reliant system of farming — the so-called Green Revolution of the 1960s and '70s — swept across his region, Sharma became one of its biggest boosters. He abandoned traditional methods and embraced synthetic fertilizers, pesticides and modern, high-yield seeds, much like any farmer in Iowa.

And for about 20 years, Sharma says, the Green Revolution worked wonders. His crop yields and his income soared. But then, things unraveled.

"The Punjabi farmer's problems had reached such levels, he wasn't making any profit," Sharma says, through an interpreter, as he walks through rows of his waist-high wheat crop.

Kicking The Chemical Habit

Sharma's soil was deteriorating, so he had to buy more and more fertilizer every year to grow the same amount of crops. No matter how much pesticide he sprayed, insects still destroyed large portions of his crops. Sharma says he "realized the vicious circle in which we were stuck."

In 2005, Sharma kicked the chemical habit.

Environmental groups in India estimate that more than 300,000 farmers like Sharma have switched to organic growing methods in recent years, or have started the transition from conventional to organic farming. Comparisons between India and the U.S. are difficult because their economies and cultures are so different. But consider this: India has about three times the population of the U.S., but 30 times more organic farmers than the U.S.

Sharma's story symbolizes the dilemma that developing countries are facing around the world: What's the most sustainable way to grow enough food? The answers will eventually affect people from India to Indiana, because the world's population is booming — and if fast-growing countries like India can't feed themselves, it could trigger more global instability.

Agribusiness leaders and many government officials are convinced that genetic engineering will help prevent a world food crisis. Firms like Monsanto Co. have been inserting genes from animals and bacteria into plants so they can grow faster with less water and resist insects.

Monsanto's India spokesman, Christopher Samuel, says the company's advances will double the yields of major crops over the next 20 years, while reducing the amount of land, water, fertilizer and pesticides needed — in the process "protecting the environment and its natural resources," he says.

But activists in India are trying to block Monsanto and other companies from introducing genetically engineered food crops. They point out that it took decades to raise the alarm about serious, long-term side effects of the Green Revolution. They also say that, so far, there are not good studies examining whether biotech food crops could cause long-term problems.

Organic Farming Spreads In India

So a network of environmental groups has been traveling from village to village, preaching that organic farming is the only way that farmers can survive.

Sharma heard their sermon and became a believer.

He argues that organic means much more than simply not spraying synthetic fertilizers and pesticides. It requires farming in a more thoughtful way, he says.

For example, government policies under the Green Revolution have rewarded farmers for growing "monocultures" — vast areas of a single crop, such as wheat or rice. That can help boost yields, but studies show it has leached crucial nutrients from Punjab's soil, requiring farmers to use five to 10 times as much fertilizer as they used to about two decades ago.

Organic farmers like Sharma grow a mixture of crops in the same fields as their wheat or rice, including types of beans that replenish the soil — so they don't have to buy fertilizer. By growing a variety of crops, they also attract beneficial insects, which take the place of synthetic pesticides.

The difference between Sharma's farm and his chemical-using neighbor's is visible. The neighbor's fields are like an endless green shag carpet. Sharma's farm is like a busy quilt — a patchwork of wheat, beans and mustard plants exploding in bunches of bright yellow flowers.

Mixed Results, Hope For The Future

In the courtyard of his house in the village of Chaina, Sharma reviews his balance sheets.

"Our rice yields under the organic system are almost as good as before," he says, as his wife scoops up cow manure with her hands and pats it into disks to fuel the cooking fire. "And we're spending much less money on inputs, since we're not buying pesticides and fertilizer — although labor costs have increased."

On the downside, Sharma concedes that since he went organic, his wheat yields have fallen in half.

But he is optimistic. "I've been farming organically only for four years now. My land is still recovering from the Green Revolution. So I'm sure my yields will increase," he says.

Imagine how much organic farmers might be able to produce, Sharma says, if India's government spent even a fraction of the billions of dollars it has spent promoting chemical farming.

"We are not worried about how much yield we will get," he says. "We are worried about our families, and our children. We want them to be healthy. We will never sell or eat poison."

India's organic movement is getting some support from influential voices in the agriculture industry. Late last year, the Punjab State Farmers Commission, which advises the agriculture department, published a report that angered organic activists by concluding that if all farmers across India went organic — including in Punjab, the most intensively cultivated region — food production would drop and "seriously jeopardize the national food security."

But the commission's chairman, Gurcharan Kalkat, says the researchers reached another conclusion: "For 70 percent of the area in the country (outside Punjab), farmers must go for organic farming," he says, because organic methods will replenish the soil and improve their productivity. As for Punjab, the report concluded that 20 percent of its farmers could go organic and remain productive, too.

And the report says government scientists should begin to help them now.

"They should collect all the new [organic] techniques," Kalkat says, "so that over the next two years we are in a position to say, 'If you want to do organic farming, this is the way to do it.'"

Food, Inc.

Food, Inc. looks like an amazing documentary:

Their 10 simple things list:

1 - Stop drinking sodas and other sweetened beverages.
You can lose 25 lbs in a year by replacing one 20 oz soda a day with a no calorie beverage (preferably water).
2 - Eat at home instead of eating out.
Children consume almost twice (1.8 times) as many calories when eating food prepared outside the home.
3 - Support the passage of laws requiring chain restaurants to post calorie information on menus and menu boards.
Half of the leading chain restaurants provide no nutritional information to their customers.
4 - Tell schools to stop selling sodas, junk food, and sports drinks.
Over the last two decades, rates of obesity have tripled in children and adolescents aged 6 to 19 years.
5 - Meatless Mondays—Go without meat one day a week.
An estimated 70% of all antibiotics used in the United States are given to farm animals.
6 - Buy organic or sustainable food with little or no pesticides.
According to the EPA, over 1 billion pounds of pesticides are used each year in the U.S.
7 - Protect family farms; visit your local farmer's market.
Farmer's markets allow farmers to keep 80 to 90 cents of each dollar spent by the consumer.
8 - Make a point to know where your food comes from—READ LABELS.
The average meal travels 1500 miles from the farm to your dinner plate.
9 - Tell Congress that food safety is important to you.
Each year, contaminated food causes millions of illnesses and thousands of deaths in the U.S.
10 - Demand job protections for farm workers and food processors, ensuring fair wages and other protections.
Poverty among farm workers is more than twice that of all wage and salary employees.