The Group of 21, a collection of developing countries that oppose the huge farm subsidies in the U.S. and EU, became the big story of this year’s WTO talks in Cancun. They walked out of the talks after the richer nations refused to make concessions on the $300 million subsidies to their own farmers.
A much smaller story, that caught my attention, was the tale of a South Korean Farmer, who killed himself in protest at the conference. It seems almost akin to the plot of a 19th century European novel, where a farmer takes his life after industrialization challenges his way of life.