Demonstration in Berlin against the OMG. On the occasion of the start of the largest agricultural fair in the world held in Berlin In January, the German agri-food movement took to the streets again this year to demand agriculture free of genetically modified organisms (GMOs), rural and respectful of the environment.
On Saturday, January 20, some 10,000 people demonstrated in Berlin under the slogan “We are fed up!”, and a delegation from Ecologists in Action was present with their international campaign “The true price of food. The hidden face of agribusiness.
Since 2022, Ecologists in Action has had the collaboration of the German environmental NGO Deutsche Umwelthilfe (DUH) in this campaign with which it demands a change of model in the food chain that is currently neither healthy, nor fair, nor transparent.
The “The true price of food” campaign began in the Mar Menor, which since 2016 has suffered serious environmental crises due to hyper-intensive irrigated crops of fresh vegetables, which occupy some 60,000 hectares of the region known as Campo de Cartagena.
Given that more than 60% of the vegetables produced there are exported (25% of them to Germany), the campaign focused during 2022 on demanding that German supermarket companies make their supply chains and pricing policies more transparent and sustainable from an environmental and social point of view.
Berlin: for GMO-free agriculture
During 2023 and looking ahead to 2024, Ecologistas en Acción has expanded its actions, as other agricultural production regions on the southern coast of Spain, such as Almería, the tropical coast of Málaga and Granada, and the hydrographic basin of the Doñana National Park , in Huelva, suffer the same environmental and social impacts of agribusiness.
The environmental organization will be present in Berlin this weekend to strengthen collaboration with German collectives also working to transform food supply chains. In this way, Ecologists in Action joins the European food movement and joins the network of national networks that combine their efforts for a change in the agri-food model in Europe.
In this framework, representatives of Ecologistas en Acción will participate in the final act of the demonstration in front of the German Chancellery. The campaign will then be presented at a joint workshop with DUH, where perspectives on human rights and environmental protection in the agri-food supply chain will be shared. Effective strategies will also be discussed to increase pressure on political and corporate actors (especially retailers) and initiate this essential change.
Elena Alter, spokesperson for Ecologists in Action, affirms that her message for the Berlin It is clear: “We weave networks for diverse and climate-friendly agriculture, with fair wages and prices, for animal welfare and healthy eating for all people. We demand the end of extractive agroindustry and the transformation of the current model to another agroecological model, fair and healthy for people and ecosystems, both in Spain, in Europe and in the rest of the world.”