When we look across the aisles of our supermarket it appears that we have choices beyond ones imagination. But in truth our food system is controlled by a handful of companies. To a large extent these companies decide what the offerings will be, where it comes from, and exactly how much we will pay for it.
Here are some examples of this concentration of control in the various levels of agriculture:
Pesticides
- 10 companies control 80% of that market
Seeds
- 10 seed companies control 1/3 of the global seed market
- 5 companies control 75% of the global vegetable seeds
Trade
- ADM ( Archer Daniels Midland) and Cargill control about 75% of the world market for cereal
- 4 firms including ADM and Cargill dominate the oilseed trading
- 4 of the largest coffee exporters control 40% of the global market
- 4 companies control 45% of the global coffee roasting
- a handful of multinational companies control 90% of the global trade in cocoa, and pineapples, 80% of the tea trade, 80% of the banana market and more than 60% of the sugar trade
Meats and Milk
- 4 companies kill 81% of the cows
- 6 companies pack 75% of the pork
- 5 companies account for 41% of global milk processing
- 3 firms control the majority of global feed production
Produced on Factory Farms
- 84% of the pork
- 74% of the poultry
- 81% of the beef
- 68% of the eggs
Walmart started selling food in 1988 and today is the largest food retailer in the U.S. and the second largest in the world.
It would seem to me that with the power in the hands of so few, the opportunity for price gouging, cutting corners in production and lowering the health standards is quite high.
