India, Feb. 13 -- Most farmers at Brussels appeared to agree that a food system that treats food like any other tradable commodity was at the root of all ills

On Wednesday, February 1, I stood side-by-side with the farmers who had taken over Place Luxembourg and the streets adjacent to the European Parliament in Brussels. On my way, long lines of tractors with Belgian, French and Dutch plates could be seen almost a kilometre away from the square.

As I drew closer to the scene, the sound of their horns and the smell of burned tyres saturated my ears and nose.

Farmers' multiple voices

As a legal scholar who had spent the past years researching how European Union and international economic law may undermine attempts at building sustainab...