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Small-scale farmers, and organisations supporting them, are today marking the International Day of Peasant’s Struggle, commemorating the massacre of 19 landless Brazilian farmers in 1996. More than 250 actions and demonstrations will take place across the globe. The international farmers’ movement La Via Campesina is this year mobilising against the current trend of land grabbing: States, transnational corporations and hedge funds are depriving local farmers of their land and leading to increased hunger. “In the run up to the Rio+20 Earth Summit, farmers and supporters of the food sovereignty and agroecology movement are actively opposing the ‘greening of capitalism’ that is now promoted at the international level”, said Henry Saragih, general coordinator of la Via Campesina.

Hats off to this mother of three who got fed up and took charge. Thirteen years ago, Sofía Gatica’s newborn died of kidney failure after being exposed to pesticides in the womb. After the despair came anger, then a fierce determination to protect the children in her community and beyond. Today, she’s one of six grassroots leaders from around the world receiving the Goldman Environmental Prize, in recognition of her courageous — and successful — efforts.

ASIDE from the safety of food with genetically modified organisms, Greenpeace said on Thursday that the ownership of these food makers should also be a cause for concern about GMOs. “GMOs are patented and owned by the companies that develop, produce, and market them as quick-fix solutions to hunger and poverty. After more than 20 years of commercialization, GMOs have only brought us farther from [our] food security goals,” said Greenpeace in a briefing paper. The group continues to question the safety of GMOs as well as the process being implemented by the Philippine government for GMOs.

Good biofuel crops can make great invasive species. That’s one of the findings of a new report released today by the National Wildlife Federation. Growing Risk: Addressing the Invasive Potential of Bioenergy Feedstocks explores the challenges and policy solutions surrounding the use of non-native and potentially invasive bioenergy crops. Numerous non-native and genetically modified species are already being considered for use as biomass feedstocks. Growing these plants may appear to be a great source of homegrown renewable energy, but without proper precaution, producers run the risk of unleashing the next big invasive species catastrophe that could devastate native ecosystems, deplete scarce water resources and require significant resources to control.

In a paper published recently in BioScience, David Mortensen, professor of weed ecology at Penn State, and fellow researchers criticized this “single tactic” approach of herbicide-tolerant GM crops to control weeds. The paper says the approach will dramatically increase herbicide use and threaten environmental quality, create even more herbicide resistant “superweeds,” and encourage continued neglect of public research and extension investment in integrated weed management approaches in favor of chemical company profit-driven GMO approaches. In 2010, Mortensen told a US House Oversight Committee that the government should restrict the use of herbicide-tolerant GM crops and impose a tax on GM seeds to fund research and educational programs for farmers.

The world’s most popular weed killer, Roundup®, can cause amphibians to change shape, according to research published today in Ecological Applications. Rick Relyea, University of Pittsburgh professor of biological sciences in the Kenneth P. Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences and director of Pitt’s Pymatuning Laboratory of Ecology, demonstrated that sublethal and environmentally relevant concentrations of Roundup® caused two species of amphibians to alter their morphology. According to Relyea, this is the first study to show that a pesticide can induce morphological changes in a vertebrate animal.

“This report demonstrates that the increasingly vocal objections from social movements and civil society organisations are having an impact on the introduction of GM crops.” said Josie Riffaud from La Via Campesina. The testimonies and analysis contained in this report aim to inspire and unite consumers, activists and communities against the abuses carried out by Monsanto and other biotech corporations around the world. “Who will hold Monsanto responsible for the global depletion of biodiversity, soil erosion, and violations of peasant rights wrought by the application of petroleum-based inputs required by industrial agriculture?” asked Dena Hoff of the National Family Farm Coalition / La Via Campesina North America.

We the undersigned representing civil society groups are concerned about recent statements that emanated from the first Pan African Biotechnology Stewardship Conference held in Accra, Ghana on the 1st of December 2011, which called on Africans to use biotechnology to provide ”poor farmers with healthier, more bountiful crops to reduce hunger and poverty in Africa”. [...] We are disappointed that an unproven and unsafe technology is being foisted on Africa simply because of the unfortunate continual characterization of Africa as a chronically hungry continent. [...] Our agricultural systems are threatened by industries that seek to control our food and our livelihoods by destroying our agricultural systems.

France will reinstate a ban on the cultivation of Monsanto’s MON810 maize in the next few days, in time to prevent the genetically modified grain being sown this year, an official at the farm ministry said on Tuesday. Paris banned MON810 maize in 2008, citing environmental risks. The decision was overturned by the country’s highest court in November on the basis that it was not sufficiently justified, leading the government to say it would look at all ways to maintain the freeze.

Genetic engineering is a technology in search of a problem; a product in search of a market. This should be foremost in the minds of civil society leaders, farmers and politicians attending the ”Innovation and partnerships to realise Africa’s rice potential” conference in Mali this week. Lobbyists from the genetic engineering (GE) industry are offering Africa a stark choice between hunger and GE crops. This is a false choice. Hunger can be avoided without growing and eating GE crops.