Sign the Petition: Free Trade is Not the Answer to the Food Crisis
In response to the current food crisis, Grassroots International and The Oakland Institute are asking you to sign a petition demanding that the International Financial Institutions (World Bank, International Monetary Fund, and the World Trade Organization) not use the crisis to push through more failed free trade policies. Such policies have exacerbated hunger worldwide by allowing among other things rich countries to dump their agricultural products on poorer ones that can't compete. Our petition urges the UN and FAO to instead put pressure on countries to:

• Increase cash contributions for food aid geared towards local food purchasing in hard-hit countries
• Develop sustainable agriculture systems through genuine agrarian reforms
• End speculation on food as a commodities in the global financial markets

Be a part of real solutions. Sign the petition here.
The Roots of the Crisis
It can be a bit dizzying. The interplay between commodity markets, governments, agribusinesses, and financial institutions such as the World Bank can at times be challenging to understand when it comes to food prices in your local store, yet the current food crisis can be traced to the relationships between these institutions and to many of their policies. Read our policy brief summarizing the causes of the hike in world food prices and the solutions proposed by various international agencies. Most significantly, we make recommendations on how to keep the crisis from leading people into starvation. Click here to read the brief.