Power, Food and Agriculture: Implications for Farmers, Consumers and Communities

Abstract

Abstract:One of the most pressing concerns about the industrialization of agriculture and food is the consolidation and concentration of markets for agricultural inputs, agricultural commodities food processing and groceries. In essence a small minority of actors globally exercise great control over food system decisions. This means that because of increased consolidation of these markets globally -from the United States to China to Brazil, from South Africa to the United Kingdomthe vast majority of farmers, consumers and communities are left out of key decisions about how we farm and what we eat. Transnational agrifood firms are motivated by profits and power in the marketplace, leaving other social, economic and ecological goals behind. This creates an agroecological crisis in the face of climate uncertainty but one that is rooted in social and economic organization. In this chapter we detail the current economic organization of agriculture, and briefly describe its negative impacts on farmers, communities and ecology. We conclude by articulating stories of farmer-led resistance that imagine a new food system. 2

From Transition to Domains of Transformation: Getting to Sustainable and Just Food Systems through Agroecology

“…Concentration and consolidation of agricultural input markets block agroecological transformations and have been called "one of the most pressing concerns" related to the industrialization of agriculture [98]. Market concentration allows large corporations to make significant profits, while pushing farmers into growing resource-intensive, environmentally destructive monocultures for very low farmgate prices (often below production cost), provoking a cycle of debt, consolidation, and industrialization that does not allow for transition [99,100].…”

An accelerating treadmill and an overlooked contradiction in industrial agriculture: Climate change and nitrogen fertilizer

“…The system pressure to maintain/expand production noted by Schnaiberg () was translated to interviewed farmers through various, cross‐scale processes, such as competition for land, crop insurance policies, and sources of agricultural information, and drove them to feel like sufficiently high N levels were mandatory. Although few studies have depicted N as a specific component in this treadmill‐like system of capitalist agriculture, we are in good company in considering the expansionary system of capitalist agriculture as one that constrains farmers' decision‐making toward prioritizing economic imperatives and ultimately is leading to ever‐greater environmental degradation that threatens the viability of the system in the not so long term (Hendrickson et al, ; McMichael, 2009; Weis, ). Similar to past work, our interviewees saw conservation adaptation practices, including in‐season application, cover crops, and stabilizers, as too expensive or unreliable at ensuring heavy rains did not lead to N loss and untenable deficiencies (Basche & Roesch‐McNally, 2017; Roesch‐McNally et al, 2018b).…”

“…Much of O'Connor's position is already well documented in the context of agriculture. The concentration of agricultural lands and capital intensity of agricultural production have rapidly grown over the last three decades (MacDonald et al, 2018), and a number of scholars have pointed to how this process is accelerating environmental changes, such as climate change, that threaten the system's very capacity to function (e.g., Hendrickson, Howard, & Constance, ; Weis, ). For our purposes, the second contradiction of capitalism thesis has at least one key implication.…”

Domain C: Systems of Economic Exchange

“…Markets that provide inputs for agriculture, aided by schemes subsidizing external inputs, pose hurdles for agroecological transition. The concentration and consolidation of these markets has been called "one of the most pressing concerns" related to agricultural industrialization (Hendrickson et al 2017). Here, again, large corporations make significant profits while pushing farmers into growing resource-intensive, environmentally destructive monocultures for very low prices, often below production cost.…”