You saw it it in our video, you read it on our website, our interest for food leads us to wonder where our food comes from. We wanted to give a deeper meaning to our world tour, guided by these words: “food security”. Our goal “the Roots of Food” will lead us to meet local associations, that are campaigning for food security.

These are the words we thought the most appropriate to define our project. We have been dealing with this topic deeper and deeper, and we now realize that it is important to add the concept of “food sovereignty” to that of food security. Through this article we want to clarify our point of view. What do we mean by “food security”? Which further scopes does “food sovereignty” bring?

“Food security exists when all people, at all times, have physical and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food that meets their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life” (World Food Summit, 1996). This is how food security is commonly defined, but in order to entirely comprehend this concept, it is essential to detail which points it includes:

– The physical availability of food in sufficient quantities and of sufficient quality

– Access of all people to food because either they are able to produce their own food, either they have the economic and other resources needed to acquire sufficient nutritious and safe food.

– The proper physical and cultural characteristics of food. Food should not be a threat for health (giving that the sanitary risk assessment depends on the population), and should fit with the food habits of the population.

– The consideration of future conditions, which implies a stable access to food at all times, without the risk of running out of food as a result of unexpected political, economic or climatic crises or cyclical events.

– Reaching a level of nutritional well-being where all physiological needs are met (adequate diet, availability of and access to clean water, sanitation and health care), so that they would not compete between each other.

In order to insure this food security in each national or local situation, there are several possible strategies, given the local constraints and the societal choices expressed by the population. These choices, wherever they are made (on the local or national level), should be accepted and respected. It is this dimension that food sovereignty adds to food security: Food sovereignty is about the right of people to define their own food system, without dumping towards a third country.

The concept of food sovereignty also includes :

– The priority given to the local agricultural production to feed the population and insure the access for the famers to the fields, water, seeds and credits.

– The right for states to settle fair agricultural prices in bonds with the production costs, like this they can protect their market by taxing the low prices imports of agricultural products and food.

– The right for populations to take part in the political choices for agriculture.

In concrete terms, food sovereignty leads to practices as the agricultural diversification to both protect the environment and increase the productivity. Most importantly, it is the expression of a philisophy : « to replace human as the primary concern, to reverse the orders of value in the grounds of our economy, to redirect the relationship with nature from exploitation to respect »

The concept of food sovereignty can be applied at any scale, it particulary guides local initiativesand people who want to state loud and clear their choices. During our world tour by bike, we will meet actors of food sovereignty (farmers, farmers’ organizations, associations, etc.) in order to get to know issues and practices related to this concept. Using photo and video reports, we will share the philisophy and expersience of these actors, and together we will think about the direction that the global agricultural system, our agricultural system, must take.