Last month, a Special Report to the Family Farm Action Alliance was released, titled, “The Food System: Concentration and Its Impacts,” which documents, by category of the food and farm chain—seeds, fertilizers, food processing, grains, meat—the degree of control by the cartels, internationally, and for the United States. The Introduction stresses that independent democracy is itself threatened by the concentration of private power today. “This concentration of ownership, wealth and power is particularly apparent in the agrifood system where just a few companies dominate almost all aspects of food production.”
The report has 20 pages of graphs and write-up, and six pages of references. The co-authors are M.K. Hendrickson (University of Missouri,) P.H. Howard (Michigan State University,) E.M. Miller (Family Farm Action Alliance,) and D. H. Constance (Sam Houston State Univ). It was compiled Sept. 14, 2020. (https://farmactionalliance.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/Hendrickson-et-al.-2020.-Concentration-and-Its-Impacts-FINAL.pdf)
The report’s charts fully illustrate the degree of consolidation. For example, agri-chemicals globally are 65% controlled (through “market concentration”) by ChemChina/Syngenta, Bayer, Corteva and BASF. Seeds are 50% controlled by Bayer, ChemChina/Syngenta, Corteva and Limagrain. And so on. Within the United States, the two giant retailers Walmart and Costco have now moved into owning their own supply chains for meat and dairy. Of retail groceries, just four firms dominate 45% of the market (Walmart, Kroger, Albertsons and Costco). Many more categories are given, from beer and wine, to fresh cut salad and ice cream, as well as meat and grain processing.
