SUNU: A Documentary Film about One of the World's Greatest Treasures

Seen through the eyes of small, midsize and large Mexican maize producers, SUNÚ knits together different stories from a threatened rural world. It journeys deep into the heart of a country where people realize their determination to stay free, to work the land and cultivate their seeds, to be true to their cultures and forms of spirituality, all in a modern world that both needs them and despises them. SUNÚ reveals how maize and everything it gives life to could be lost forever, and shares a generous tapestry of simple, heartfelt messages for the farmers of the world and the city dwellers who could lose the capability to make important choices unless they act soon. 

 By Sabrina Hernández
On Feb. 24-26, the Student Organization for Latin American Studies (SOLAS), in conjunction with the Latin American and Iberian Institute, hosted their annual Sin Fronteras film festival. The festival, held at the Guild Cinema in Albuquerque, is a student organized free event devoted to films about and from Latin America.

This year, SOLAS was fortunate to show Sunú, and to host the director, Teresa Camou Guerrero, who answered questions after the screening. While I was unable to attend all of the films shown over the weekend, Sunú spoke to me as its agricultural and smallholder focus is very much in-line with my own research interests.

As a member of SOLAS, I arrived early to help set up and was able to meet Teresa beforehand. Visiting from her home in Mexico City, Teresa was just beginning a film screening tour that brought her to Albuquerque and Santa Fe and will eventually take her throughout California.

Sunú, which has won awards from nearly a dozen different film festivals, shows us the reality of small, middle, and large maize producers throughout Mexico as they struggle to fend off the advances of Monsanto and genetically modified maize varieties. Maize, first cultivated in Mexico at least 7,000 years ago, is more than just an economic means to survival or a source of nutritional sustenance, for the maize producers in Mexico, it represents their identity and is an intrinsic part of their cultural and spiritual practices.



Mexico has prohibited commercial planting of the genetically altered varieties that threaten to disappear thousands of years of maize traditional and cultural heritage, although there is pressure from commercial interests and multinational seed companies to allow GMO corn (SourceMex, Jan. 17, 2017). With her documentary, Camou Guerrero aims to fortify the battle against GMO corn and to present to the world what exactly is at stake. One of the largest threats faced by producers of native corn is that of contamination. The possibility of imported GMO corn contaminating native varieties was the subject of an article we posted back in 2004 – evidencing the persistence of this problem (SourceMex, Sept. 22, 2004).

Camous Guerrero, in the clip below, speaks to the motivations of contaminating native corn:



With a background in puppeteering, Teresa’s connection to the subjects treated in this film may not seem like a natural fit.  However, she explained to the audience that as an artist, she recognizes the power that the arts can lend to social movements and social issues, including the producer resistance to GMO corn in Mexico. In the clip below,

In this clip, Teresa further explains how she became involved with this subject matter.  

The Role of Food Banks in Addressing Hunger in Latin America

Photo: Plataforma de Seguridad Alimentaria y Nutricional

By Sabrina Hernández
In recent years, Latin America has become a leader in the fight against hunger and has worked to formulate plans that aim to achieve lofty goals such as the eradication of hunger in the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) region by 2025. We covered this  (NotiSur, May 30, 2014).

In a NotiSur article in February 2016, Johanna Marris wraps up her otherwise entirely optimistic synopsis of the progress made to reduce hunger rates in  half in Latin America with a pragmatic tone. She cautions, however, that all of the aforementioned progress in the region as well as future progress is largely dependent upon continued dedication from political leadership and the changing economic conditions.

Some organizations like the Plataforma de Seguridad Alimentaria y Nutricional (SAN) contend that Latin America produces enough food to feed the entire population of the region. "More than half of the agricultural imports in Latin America come from outside the region, illustrating the potential for trade in food and agriculture within the region," said (SAN). \

The question of global policies on agriculture are also very relevant for Latin America.  With the US and the world waiting for the dust to settle from a contentious presidential campaign--and an unforeseen victory by a candidate known to exploit fear and completely lacking in any prior political experience--one has to wonder what the future holds in regards to the glorious strides Latin America has made to tackle hunger in the region.

Setting aside concerns about the future of agricultural trade policies and the potential for a protectionist and punitive administration, countries in Latin America are doing what they can to try to feed people within their borders. In the Nov. issue of SourcMex, we published an article about the emergence of food banks in urban communities throughout Mexico. In this week’s blog post, I’d like to examine the role of  food banks  in several Latin American countries.

Nicaragua 
It might be especially useful to know what Nicaragua is doing to combat hunger within its borders. While the country is one of poorest in Central America, it is also one of the least violent.  The main food distribution efforts are led by Caritas Nicaragua, which operates under an Church-based ideology of servitude to the most vulnerable with society, specifically, children, seniors, sick, and families in extreme poverty. The food bank collects goods from private companies, businesses, and individuals. Donations are later organized and distributed to vulnerable people through community kitchens, hospitals, home visits, school, and rehabilitation centers. With a background in coffee importing, what is salient to me is that Caritas has locations established in the prominent coffee producing regions of the country – undoubtedly a much needed safety net when market volatility inevitably renders small, rural producers incapable of garnering a profit.

Guatemala
This is another coffee producing country that also finds its agrarian population subject to the fluctuations of a market over which it has no control, Banco de Alimentos de Guatemala is a private-sector civil association that works to obtain and distribute food donations to hungry communities in Guatemala.  The majority the donations the food banks receives comes from large corporations. Whether these corporations are acting out of genuine good will or seeking to rectify decades of egregious bad karma, Banco de Alimentos puts their donations to use by serving 56 organizations that represent 11 departments within the country. Through the delivery of groceries and other basic necessities to families, Banco de Alimentos serves 23,000 people monthly.

Dominican Republic 
With an estimated 15% of Dominicans suffering from some degree of hunger, Banco de Alimentos de la Republica Dominicana, founded in 1967, is a non-profit that is dedicated to alleviating hunger by making use of what, in other circumstances, might be considered food waste. El Banco collects and distributes large quantities of food in good condition that cannot be commercially sold for one reason or another. Their goals are two fold; to reduce waste and to reduce hunger.

Argentina 
The Argentine branch of Banco de Alimentos operates throughout the country and primarily works in collaboration with community kitchens. Through the connections with these 750 community kitchens, Banco de Alimentos estimates that some 100,000 people are served every year. The food bank also processed an estimated 4 million kilograms of food in 2015. Banco de Alimentos Argentina is able to serve such a large population because it is run by close to 7,000 volunteers.

Chile 
Banco Alimentos Chile is a nongovernmental organization that was founded in 2003. The goal of the food bank is to collect surplus food production and distribute it to organizations that work with poor and hungry populations at a local level. The food bank engages in a variety of food fundraisers including a race that brought in 1,300 kilos (2,866 lbs) of food that was distributed to different organizations that  benefit from Banco Alimentos Chile.

The stories are similar in other countries in Latin America.  Here are links to national or municipal food banks in the region.

Brazil – Banco de Alimentos Brasil
Colombia – Banco de Alimentos de Bogota
Costa Rica – Banco de Alimentos de Costa Rica
Ecuador – Banco de Alimentos de Quito
El Salvador – Banco de Alimentos de El Salvador
Honduras – Banco de Alimentos de Honduras
Panama – Banco de Alimentos de Panama
Paraguay – Banco de Alimentos de Paraguay
Peru – Banco de Alimentos de Peru
Uruguay – Banco de Alimentos de Uruguay

Spike in Lime Prices in Mexico Linked to Disease, Unrest in Key Growing Areas

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Article from SourceMex, April 23

The basket of basic consumer goods is an important measure to determine the affordability of the cost of basic goods and services for the poorest families in Mexico. The basket tracks the price of almost 100 products, including corn, beans, wheat flour, instant coffee, powdered chocolate, toilet paper, toothpaste, laundry soap, and much more. One product that is part of the basket but often gets little attention is the green Persian lime, known in Mexico as limón verde. Reports from the government’s statistics office (Instituto Nacional de Estadística y Geografía, INEGI) and other agencies indicate that the price of limes increased by as much as 200% in the first three months of the year, because of a combination of disease, bad weather during key development stages, high insecurity in some of the producing states, and seasonal factors. Carlos Navarro Read More

U.S. Producers Seek Countervailing Duty on Imports of Mexican Sugar

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Article from SourceMex, April 9

The dispute between the US and Mexico on sugar trade has erupted again following a request by the American Sugar Coalition (ASC) to the US government to impose anti-dumping and countervailing duties against imports of Mexican sugar. In a petition filed before the US International Trade Commission (ITC), the ASC alleges that the Mexican government is subsidizing sugar production, costing the US sugar industry about US$1 billion in net income for the 2013-2014 crop year. The complaint points out that government subsidies have resulted in a bumper sugarcane crop and large surplus of sugar in Mexico, which has led the Mexican industry to increase exports significantly. Mexico produced a record crop of 7 million tons of sugar in 2012-2013 Carlos Navarro Read More

Eager To Cash In, South America’s Soy-Producing Nations Ignore Monoculture’s Many Risks

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Article from NotiSur, April 11

The Southern Cone’s five transgenic-soy-producing countries--Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay--together grow more than 50 million hectares (500,000 sq km) of the oilseed, nearly all of which is exported to Europe and Asia, where it is used to feed livestock and, in the specific case of China, to produce different types of oils. South American environmental organizations say the soy industry destroys forests, pollutes the water, soil, and air, and pushes small-scale farmers off their land. Many economists are critical of the soy frenzy as well, saying the decision to dedicate vast stretches of land to a single crop is both short-sighted and risky, since it makes all five countries overly dependent on a single product and a on single market, China, which consumes nearly 80% of the region’s soy production. Andrés Gaudín Read More

LADB Perspective: In what seems like an echo from the dependency theorists of the 20th century, monoculture agriculture and a heavy reliance on a foreign market – in this instance China – have created a common cause for alarm by both economists and environmentalists. Economists, on one side of the issue, warn that an over-dependence on a single crop – soybeans – and a single market – China – is “both short-sighted and risky.” This also has ramifications for the progressive developments of the predominantly left-leaning Southern Cone, where Brazil, Uruguay, Argentina, and Bolivia are still governed by administrations who came to power during the ‘Pink Tide,’ a term used to describe the turn towards the center-left during the early 21st century. While these states have been using the massive windfalls from recent soybean harvest to fund social programs and help combat wealth disparity, the ongoing economic events in Venezuela serve as a cautionary tale of how over-dependence on a single export product – petroleum in Venezuela’s case – and radical market engineering can create fragile and unsustainable national economies. While the economies of Argentina and Brazil are better diversified and the economies of Uruguay and Bolivia much smaller and manageable, these states are evermore eager to expand soy production regardless of the risks.

 Environmentalists, on the other side are also worried about the risks that GMO crops pose to the environment and lasting viability of agriculture in the Southern Cone. The risks of monoculture have long been apparent, from susceptibility to a single pest to being over-reliant on specific weather conditions, yet they appear to present little deterrence. Recent storms and floods in the Southern Cone could end up costing Argentina 3 million tons of soybeans, which amounts to approximately 5% of the entire annual harvest. Changes in soil condition over time may also serve to turn this “cause for celebration” into short-term boom, leaving state dependent on soybeans with poor soil and unsupportable social welfare programs. And while non-native crops, such as soybeans, are not at risk in South America to lose genetic diversity, the persistent loss of forest puts many native species – both flora and fauna – at great risk. Lastly, the huge tracks of land required for a high profit margin on soybeans have been forcing small land holders into destitution and homelessness. If this consolidation of arable land continues, we may the increase in the political influence of such organizations such as the MST (Movimento dos Trabalhadores Sem Terra [Landless Worker’s Movement]) in Brazil.

 While the windfalls from recent soybean harvests have no doubt been beneficial to many in their respective societies, the worries of economists and environmentalists alike should be cause for further analyses of the short-term benefits and long-term risks of such agricultural policies. -Joe Leestma

Cuba Aims to Increase Coffee Production After Harvest Levels Plummet

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Article from NotiCen, March 20

Cuba aims to increase coffee production this decade after harvesting 6,200 tons of beans during 2013-2014, a low figure compared with the 60,000 tons achieved in 1959. Coffee remains the most popular drink on the island and has been ingrained in the country's culture since the Haitian Revolution in the late 18th century. The Cuban coffee industry had its most difficult moment in 2012 when the harvest was a mere 4,000 tons, considered to be the worst in more than a century. That harvest forced the government to import coffee from Vietnam to meet the needs of a population that seems to be able to do without everything but the tiny cup every morning. Daniel Vázquez Read More