Food sovereignty is a concept that values food producers rather than squeezing them off the land. The advice is to choose local fruits and vegetables in season.
Improving self-sufficiency in vegetables could help counter climate change. Globally, the meat and dairy industry produces more emissions than global transport. Cutting back on eating meat and dairy products is a simple and direct way to reduce the world's carbon footprint.
Ten years have passed since the agri-bio symposium held in Floriana promoted organic agriculture. The EU group of the International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements (IFOAM-EU) recently held a conference in Gozo together with members of the Malta Organic Agriculture Movement (MOAM), farmers and environmentalists.
Opening the proceedings, Gozo Minister Giovanna Debono spoke on efforts to reduce Gozo's water and carbon footprint as part of a bid to make Gozo an eco-island by 2020.
"Groundwater needs to become sustainable," said the minister, although it is not clear how this would be achieved.
Touching on conventional farming methods IFOAM-EU president Christopher Stopes said that historically, agriculture was focused on increased production, rather than natural resource management, to offer better food security.
A "productionist mindset" led to a situation where, in some cases, chicken has become "cheaper than dogfood".
Favouring local control above reliance on remote global corporations would come from agricultural politics that is built on knowledge gained by farmers working with nature.
Examples of organic farming in a small island state outside Europe were presented by Olafur Dyrmundssen from Iceland. An indigenous sub-Arctic herb, angelica, is used in the development of Icelandic foods based on tradition-promoting cultural tourism through speciality niche foods.
Organic farming depends strongly on seeds that have naturally adapted to the local environment. Allowing the exchange of this genetic resource between farmers is hugely important. But there are fears regional varieties could soon only be found in museums. Current legislation is not enough to protect genetic diversity.
This is a decisive year concerning seeds and intellectual property rights. Legislating for EU seed uniformity could lead to industrial varieties squeezing out local and regional seed varieties. A new EU directive complicates, and in some cases, forbids the propagation of old varieties.
Teaming up under the 'Let's liberate diversity' banner, seed initiatives in 10 European countries are defending farmers' right to sow seeds collected from their own harvest.
A distinct tilt toward genetically-modified organisms (GMOs) is seen as the emergence of 'food imperialism'. EU Health and Consumer Commissioner John Dalli's decision to allow a genetically modified potato variety into the EU market this spring contrasted with earlier voting patterns by Malta's own agriculture ministry. Malta's vote at the Council of Ministers initially held out against genetically modified crops.
"We were afraid that something would happen in this new Commission," admitted Slovenian speaker at the conference, Anamarija Slabe, adding, "They are trying out moves to test for the reaction."
It is worth remembering that the European Parliament sometimes has more power than the EU Commission.
Formerly, a conventional farmer and agricultural engineer in Hungary, Eva Acs switched to organic after furthering her studies on the subject. "Watch out for your diversity," she warned.
Ms Acs, the managing director of Kishantos organic farm and research centre, believes in the simple principles of organic agriculture. Other crops which claim a high yield may not be taking the high price of chemical use and environmental damage into account.
Genetics are the information system which runs the earth. GMOs have been compared to a computer bug which can disrupt the whole system and affect the living soil. Life on earth depends on this fragile green layer, just a few centimetres deep.
"You can't see genetic pollution... it's impossible to recall." Almost no independent research has been done on the effects of GMOs on the human body. One study indicated a possible impact related to the growth of intestinal bacteria.
IFOAM views the use of public procurement as a potential weapon to prevent GMOs getting into the system. The cost of checking for clandestine GMOs puts up prices. Participatory or group certification schemes would help bring costs down. In the absence of import barriers, green procurement could serve as a means of GMO regulation.
Alpine and Mediterranean regions overlap in Slovenia where 'Plan B' for sustainable development is being proposed by a group of non-governmental organisations. It is an alternative to earlier plans based on economic interests and lacking a consultation phase.
Ms Slabe, who represented the Slovenian Foundation for Sustainable Development, said there were problems in such a young country, with state officials who did not understand they were there to serve society.
Pros and cons of a directive on labelling of organic products for the EU market were presented by Alexander Beck.
The Lisbon Treaty is expected to bring greater political involvement in farming policy. This could go either way, as pointed out by Mr Stopes: "A lot of political power is in favour of some of the worst excesses of conventional and genetically modified farming."
The plus side of the new regulations is that they now assert a clear principle of organic agriculture that was missing before, making it easier to lobby. It is hoped that in the 2013 reform of the common agricultural policy, organic farming will become a more obvious part of the policy.
MOAM president Mario Salerno, who runs free evening classes for farmers on organic farming, is optimistic about prospects for organic farming, despite the many challenges.
The IFOAM president's closing speech included a call for more demonstration farms in Malta to promote organic principles in agriculture.
"Strengthen the commitment you have to local food grown in Malta and Gozo," he urged.