Liberalize trade for “food justice”
by Emil Kreider, Harrisonburg, Va.
In “The Food Crisis” (May 20), Everett J. Thomas quotes Church World Service: “Enough food exists to feed the world’s hungry; the problem is that much of the world’s poor can’t afford food in their local markets.” This statement is then followed by a list of suggestions for Mennonites to “inject some justice” into the food crisis.
I propose adding advocacy of trade liberalization in agriculture to the list. A fairly recent International Monetary Fund study, among others, estimates that if industrial countries alone opened their markets to imported agricultural goods, developing country welfare would rise by more than $10 billion. The additional elimination of agricultural subsidies in industrial countries would probably on balance also “inject justice” but would have a more mixed impact on developing countries since the impact of eliminating the subsidies would be to raise the price of food—generally helping developing countries that are food exporters and harming, at least initially, those that are net food importers.
Granted, this is complex and all economic change has positive impact for some and negative impact for others. But the potential for helping the poor here is enormously greater than, say, “purchasing wild-caught and local seafood” or “eating organic foods,” and maybe greater than all the items on the list combined.
Associated Issue: Poverty in the suburbs - May 20, 2008
Associated Article: The food crisis
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