Press release

Poison-free Food and Farming: Press Conference with Vandana Shiva

Thursday, March 7, 2019 – from 2:30pm to 3:30pm
Press Room of the Chamber of Deputies
(Palazzo Montecitorio, Via della Missione 4, Rome)

ROME – The agriculture of the future must respect the land and all forms of life. For decades, chemical fertilizers and pesticides have contributed to the contamination of soil, water, air, and the poisoning of the inhabitants of rural areas and all consumers. The failure of this agricultural model is now in the public eye. The industrial food system is at the heart of the climate crisis and the extinction of species, as well as at the root of the hunger and health crisis. Ecological food systems based on solidarity and circular economies are developing everywhere in the world. That is why the agri-food industry is trying to attack organic and local food production. More and more studies, including those by FAO, show that agroecology is now the only way to produce healthy food on a global scale. It reduces waste and inequalities in access to resources, combats the climate crisis and defends the increasingly compromised food sovereignty of people by putting the protection of the health of citizens and the future of all of us first and foremost.

This will be the subject of the press conference of Thursday, March 7, 2019, from 2:30pm to 3:30pm, at the Press Office of the Chamber of Deputies with: Vandana Shiva – President of Navdanya International, Ulrich Veith – Mayor of Mals, Davide Marino – Roma Tre University, Nadia El-Hage Scialabba – TMG Think tank for Sustainability-Berlin, Patrizia Gentilini – Isde. Participants: Tiziano Quaini – coordinator of the Associazione Veneta dei Produttori Biologici e Biodinamici (Venetian Organic and Biodynamic Producers Association) – representing Marcia Stop Pesticidi (Stop Pesticides March), Claudio Bizzotto – Terra Chiama, Comitato genitori Asilo San Giacomo (San Giacomo Kindergarten Parents Board), Maria Grazia Mammuccini – Cambia la Terra – Federbio.

The many concrete examples of good practice will also be discussed during the press conference along with the evidence of how it is not only possible but even more efficient and convenient to produce and consume food without resorting to poisonous chemicals. Sucess of these practices is demonstrated by the Himalayan state of Sikkim, which has converted its production to a 100% organic model, the Biodiversity Conservation Farm of Nadvanya, India, a genuine sanctuary of biodiversity where every toxic contaminant is banned and where people from all over India and the world can learn the principles of agroecology at the Earth University, and in Italy, the small town of Malles (South Tyrol) that in 2015 called a referendum, which was won by a large majority to become the first pesticide-free town.

The issue of pesticides is now a global issue and more and more citizens, institutions and civil society organizations are showing an increasing awareness on the subject. These include Marcia Stop Pesticidi, one of the most dynamic bottom-up movements, that is giving voice to the people living in the countryside, who are poisoned by industrial agriculture; the Associazione Veneta dei Produttori Biologici e Biodinamici; Federbio; Terra Chiama and the San Giacomo Kindergarten Parents Board, which is currently fighting against the umpteenth intensive vineyard being planted next to a school.

In order to promote the synergy of local movements and organic producers and to give impetus to the necessary transition phase, Navdanya International will launch the international campaign Poison-free Food and Farming 2030.

The event will be attended by Italian MPs: Sara Cunial (M5S); Silvia Benedetti (Mixed); Susanna Cenni (Pd); Saverio De Bonis (Mixed); Rossella Muroni (LeU).

Moderator: Ruchi Shroff – director of Navdanya International.

Requests for accreditation by journalists must be sent ​​by 10am of Wednesday, March 6, 2019. Please note that men must wear a jacket in order to access the event.

The press conference will be live streaming on the Web TV channel of the Chamber of Deputies.

Contacts: ufficio.stampa.mov@gmail.com

For information and interviews:
Navdanya International Press Office
Tel. 328 6334318 – 329 8622125
info@navdanyainternational.it