Communities around the world celebrate World Food Day during the month of October, as they have for decades. This year, on October 24th, we here in the U.S. will mark U.S. food day. At the same time (and continuing into next year) the U.S. government is gearing up to write the 2012 Food and Farm Bill — an omnibus package of federal farm and food legislation that directs billions of taxpayer dollars. PAN is organizing with partners to leverage some of this energy to get California lawmakers aligned behind a better Food and Farm Bill.

If you’re in California, join us in telling our elected officials — by October 24 — how you want your tax dollars spent. If you’re elsewhere in the U.S., go to the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition website to find how you can link to similar efforts in your state.

Last Monday, Oct. 10, California lawmakers were treated to a whirlwhind tour of farms and farmworker communities along the state's central coast. The Sustainable Food & Farming Tour brought legislators to see firsthand the critical issues facing agricultural families in the state.

The tour, co-organized by PAN, Californians for Pesticide Reform and Pesticide Watch, set out from San Francisco to visit farms, schools and homes. The packed day on the road put a real-world face to many of the urgent problems raised by pesticide use, and highlighted ground-proven solutions of sustainable agriculture.

This Sunday is World Food Day. It is a day to renew our commitment to ending the root causes of hunger.

It is also an opportunity to highlight the true costs of pesticide-dependent agriculture, and the corporate-controlled food system that goes with it. At PAN we're doing two things: celebrating bees and berating the Big 6. Join us!

On October 13, I joined fellow food democracy activists from around California at a press conference on the steps of San Francisco’s City Hall. We were there to welcome the release of a new Global Citizens’ Report on transgenic crops, aptly entitled The GMO Emperor Has No Clothes.

As World Food Day approaches (Sunday, October 16), what better way to honor and support small-scale and family farmers around the world than by publicizing the report’s message: genetically engineered crops have utterly failed to deliver, it’s time to cut our losses, save our seeds, defend our rights and Occupy the Food System.

Last week, our national pesticide laws were the target of a sneak attack. An amendment that would have stripped EPA's power to protect our nation's waterways was attached to — of all things — the completely unrelated China Currency bill.

If the stakes weren't so high, it would be laughable. Attached as an amendment to what? Thanks in no small part to hundreds of outraged phone calls to the Senate from PAN supporters, the offending amendment was pulled — for the time being.