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Linkswww.daff.gov.au/abares www.australianfoodsovereigntyalliance.org www.slowfoodcanberra.com www.slowfood.com30,000 square kilometers of northern Australia – that’s roughly the size of Belgium,” says Michael Croft, president of the Australian Food Sovereignty Alli- ance and co-leader of Slow Food Can- berra Capital and Country. “Australia’s behavior towards big capital is similar to Pavlov’s dogs,” says Croft. “The capital bell rings and we salivate, even when nothing is delivered. Under cur- rent laws foreign companies and indi- viduals have the right to buy Australian agricultural land with minimal scrutiny.”loSing control“In return we lose control of vital land and infrastructure. And because most of the crops for export are unbelievably thirsty, we are also effectively giving away vast quantities of our precious fresh water. As for infrastructure, since it’s already in place, all we are doing is ceding control, our sovereignty. A fam-ily farm is sold and a few lucky people are kept on as employees or contrac- tors, but once the skills transfer has oc- curred, will the locals have jobs?” Family farmers such as the McDon- alds are not only concerned about the impact on their land and region, but also for the future of Australian food sovereignty. The more land ownership is centralized and sent offshore, the less control we have; the more farm- ers are pushed to share resources with mining, the more their ability to oper- ate in the way they desire is under- mined. The reason food sovereignty is so important−and different to food security−says writer Raj Patel, is be- cause: “It is a call for the right of every- one to be able to actively to shape the food system... It’s about redistributing power more equitably.”This is what we must fight for. This is why keeping Australia’s agricultural land in the hands of small to medium family farms will help us create the good, clean and fair future we want. As Croft argues, “The well-being of our communities, and the integrity of our soils and waterways, must be our pri- ority above the profit interests of trans- national capital.”29© loCK ThE GaTE allIanCE