Critics say the Gates Foundation’s push to expand chemical-intensive monocrop farming in Africa is exacerbating hunger, worsening inequality and entrenching corporate power in the world’s hungriest region.
To the techno-food industrialists, hunger and climate disruption are problems to be solved with data and engineering. The core ingredients of their revolutionary plan: genetic engineering — and patenting — of everything from seeds and food animals, to soil microbes, flavors and textures. Local food cultures and traditional diets could fade to the past as food production moves indoors to labs that cultivate fake meat and ultra-processed foods.
Staging public protests seems like an odd way to depolarize a debate, yet the Cornell Alliance for Science—a public relations campaign funded by the Gates Foundation to “depolarize the charged debate” about GMOs—joined in a recent protest at Willamette University to confront Vandana Shiva, PhD, an Indian scholar, author and environmentalist. Joining self-described “science nerd” … Gates-Funded Cornell Group Misfires in Protest of Vandana Shiva
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation awarded another $10 million last week to the controversial Cornell Alliance for Science, a communications campaign housed at Cornell that trains fellows in Africa and elsewhere to promote and defend genetically engineered foods, crops and related pesticides. The new grant brings BMGF grants to the group to $22 million. … Gates Foundation doubles down on misinformation campaign at Cornell as African leaders call for agroecology
Planning documents for the 2021 United Nations Food Systems Summit shed new light on the agenda behind the controversial food summit that hundreds of farmers’ and human rights groups are boycotting. These groups say agribusiness interests and elite foundations have commandeered the UN negotiations to advance an economic agenda that would exploit food systems, especially … The next neocolonial gold rush? African food systems are the ‘new oil, ’ UN documents say
By Stacy Malkan In his book on how to avoid a climate disaster, billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates discusses his plans to model African food systems upon India’s “green revolution,” in which a plant scientist increased crop yields and saved a billion lives, according to Gates. The obstacle to implementing a similar overhaul in Africa, he … Bill Gates’ plans to remake food systems will harm the climate
Research from Tufts GDAE finds the billion-dollar Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa is not living up to its promises A longer version of this article ran in The Ecologist By Stacy Malkan Massive investments spent promoting and subsidizing commercial seeds and agrichemicals across Africa have failed to fulfill their purpose of alleviating hunger … Report documents Gates Foundation’s ‘failing’ Green Revolution for Africa
Update: Newsweek’s bizarre response By Stacy Malkan “The campaign for organic food is a deceitful, expensive scam,” according to a Jan. 19 Newsweek article authored by Dr. Henry I. Miller of the Hoover Institution. If that name sounds familiar – Henry I. Miller – it may be because the New York Times recently revealed a … Monsanto’s fingerprints all over Newsweek’s hit on organic food
Billions of dollars in aid and subsidies for industrial agriculture are harming food security in one of the world’s hungriest regions, according to African groups who want donors to shift funding to African-led efforts and agroecology.
The Alliance for Science is a public relations campaign that trains spokespeople and creates networks of influence, particularly in African countries, to persuade the public and policymakers to accept GMOs and pesticides. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation launched the effort in 2014 with a $5.6 million grant and has since donated $22 million to … Gates-funded ‘Alliance for Science’ accused of peddling misinformation
As the Goalkeepers convened to discuss progress toward the Sustainable Development Goals, did they ignore the global chorus of criticisms about the foundation’s agricultural development work in Africa?
Hunger and malnourishment increased dramatically during the Covid-19 pandemic, according to a sobering United Nations report released Monday. The report is the first comprehensive assessment of hunger since the pandemic struck, and estimates a 25% increase in the number of severely undernourished people across the globe. While no region of the world was spared, Africa … Hunger report spotlights controversial UN Food Systems Summit
Founded, led UC Davis group that elevated industry PR efforts Dr. Ronald was the founding director of the World Food Center’s Institute for Food and Agricultural Literacy (IFAL), a group launched in 2014 at UC Davis to train faculty and students to promote genetically engineered foods, crops and pesticides. The group does not fully disclose … Pamela Ronald’s Ties to Chemical Industry Front Groups
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