G8--Listen to the Farmers!

If greed weren't the motivating factor for our economic system, think of what a wonderful planet this would be! The farmers, fishing people, anyone who works with their hands and sees the profits slipping through their fingers know that change is imperative!
Protests precede G8 summit
Protesters have gathered in the Japanese city of Sapporo to demonstrate against rising food prices, ahead of a summit of the Group of Eight (G8) rich nations.
Thousands of people, including many farmers, are taking part in Saturday's protest.
About 21,000 police officers have been deployed near Toyako, the northern Japanese lakeside resort where G8 leaders will meet on Monday.
The demonstrators are calling for the G8 to pay more attention to food producers.
"We should have a more balanced food supply in the world," Eiichi Hayashizaki, a rice farmer at the protest, said.
"Japan imports the majority of its food from overseas, so we don't starve ourselves, but the government should stop controlling rice production in the country," he said.
[...] Oxfam International has said that soaring food prices and climate change are having a negative impact on world poverty.
"This isn't the time for a holiday, this is the time for sorting out problems," Lucy Brinicombe, an Oxfam International spokesperson, said.
[...] Earlier this week, Robert Zoellick, president of the World Bank, called for G8 leaders to address rising food prices at their summit.
The crisis, which is limiting many poor peoples' access to staple foodstuffs, is a "man-made catastrophe" which is overwhelming the bank's resources, he said.
Global food prices have nearly doubled in three years, according to the World Bank.
[...] Activists said that Japanese immigration authorities barred the entry of more than two dozen South Koreans who planned to take part in Saturday's demonstration.
South Koreans have a reputation for being particularly impassioned on issues of global trade.
A farmer from South Korea stabbed himself to death in 2003 during a protest at global trade negotiations in Mexico. http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia-pacific/2008/07/2008755522967115.html