Let nature take its course

The enforced break-up of multinational food companies and regulation of commodities markets has been advocated by the policy director of the World Development Movement, a global charity campaign for poor people.

Dr Julian Oram called for a move away from "monoculture" production to local "ecosystems" based on permacultures - sustainable human habitats following nature's patterns. He spoke on World Food Day at the Fair food distribution in a warmer world conference organised by the Food Ethics Council.

Oram said: "To me, the food system as it stands is the most undemocratic part of our economy." He proposed critical pathways to bring about change, which depended on a bottom-up as well as top-down approach to breaking up monopolistic power of multinationals. He argued for greater use of Fairtrade models.

Oram's arguments were supported by Carolyn Steel, architect and author of Hungry City: How Food Shapes our Lives. She said the debate was polarising between monocultures that pushed for economies of scale and groups such as international peasant movement La Via Campesina, which campaigns globally for poor farmer groups. "It's about networks; it's about enabling farmers," said Steel.

"It is mythology to carry on with the current model - paralysis is not an option," Oram said.