PAN Magazine: Fall 2009 Issue

Where I come from, weather winds up in just about every conversation. "Cold enough for you? Oh no, this is mild. Don’t you remember when…?" A cultural phenomenon of the upper Midwest, and among farmers and farmworkers everywhere, weather defines our lives. Weather determines the daily to-do list and frames possibilities. Spring might set up a perfect environment to plant ambitious crops—tomatoes, peppers, corn, beans, squash—stretching to the horizon. And a late spring freeze or midsummer hailstorm can destroy that bounty within hours.

Weather—and its long-term companion, climate—is top of mind for us all now, and people around the world face the shocks associated with our rapidly warming planet. Communities are ravaged by increasingly extreme events. Farmers see change in temperature and precipitation that require adaptation and threaten food supply. In the U.S., we face the reality that our habits and systems are a grave cause of the dangers, and we seek ways to change course.

Agriculture, it turns out, is fertile ground for changing course. The good news is that ecological agriculture and food sovereignty— solutions PAN and our partners have been promoting for decades as the antidote to pesticide and corporate dependence—can both feed the world and cool the planet. And people around the world are increasingly clamoring for a shift in this direction. The bad news is that the same agrichemical corporations that brought us toxic pesticides and industrial food are offering technological fixes that, as we’ve seen already, will fail to deliver, leaving communities and our planet in debt.

In this issue you’ll find science, analysis and stories at the nexus of agriculture, pesticides and climate change. We detail the links between farming systems and climate, and the impacts climate change will have on global toxics. And we offer a glimpse into the state-of-play for agriculture vis-à-vis national and international policy. You’ll also find stories of celebration: of a hero in the struggle for safer, fair agriculture—this year’s Health & Justice Award winner, Carol Dansereau; and reports of real progress in eliminating dangerous pesticides. Thank you for joining in the campaign for food democracy and a cooler planet.