Corporate Concentration

Grocery stores today are filled with many products, name brands and the appearance of choice: cereal consumers have an abundant and colorful array of products from which to choose, dairy cases are filled with different grades and brands of milk, meat counters boast row upon row of prime cuts. However, a handful of multinational food companies produces and processes most of these foods. Corporate control of the food industry is so broad that only a few companies dominate the entire food chain from seed to finished product. This is corporate concentration in agriculture.

Low Price: Pushing Farmers off the Land

Corporate agribusiness, through its market power and its influence over policy makers, is the driving force in setting farm policies. ¹
As a result, the market prices of most crops, effectively set by domestic farm policy, are well below the cost of operating the farm.² This enables multinational corporations to buy raw materials at the lowest possible cost while farmers struggle to cover the cost of production.
To make up for the huge gap, between market prices and production costs, the U.S. government uses taxpayer dollars to provide farm subsidies. Unfortunately, these billions most often go to corporate farms not family farms. ³

Genetic Engineering: The Elimination of Farmers’ Rights and Livelihoods

Two multinational companies, Monsanto and DuPont, dominate the US seed industry. ⁴
Farmers who buy genetically engineered seeds are forced to sign contracts that dictate how and when the crop can be grown and deny farmers the right to save seed for the following year.
Many farmers, whose crops have been contaminated by GE pollen drift, have been sued, by Monsanto, for unknowingly and unwillingly "possessing" GE seeds.

Corporate Food: Higher Quantity, Lower Quality

Corporate food has to travel almost 1,500 miles on average to get to your dinner plate. It is picked or processed days in advance and it is often specially treated, processed, genetically engineered, or irradiated. ⁵
Agribusinesses already process and market 95% of the food in the US. ⁶

Corporate Concentration: Removing Consumer Choice for Local, Fresh Food

Just like the farmer who can no longer sell his goods to a variety of buyers, consumers may soon lose their food choices. This is a real danger; by the time American consumers realize that corporate food is not always good food, all the local or independent companies could already be gone - eliminated by the corporate giants. To prevent this from happening, Farm Aid partners with and supports family farm organizations that fight for fair farm policies at local, national and international levels. These advocates help give family farmers the tools they need to bypass corporate giants and create a family farmed food supply.

1 Suppan, Steve. "How Will the Free Trade Area of the Americas Impact Agriculture?" Institute for Agriculture and Trade, 2001.
2 2001 USDA market prices (gross value per acre) and total cost (operating costs and allocated overhead): corn: $255.76, $390.59. soybeans: $178.45, $264.13. wheat: $95.22, $183.34.
3 Environmental Working Group
4 Kissam, Ariane. "Fact Sheet on Genetic Engineering in Agriculture." National Family Farm Coalition, 1999.
5 Pirog, Rich. "Checking the Food Odometer: Comparing Food Miles for Local Versus Conventional Produce Sales in Iowa Institutions." Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture; July 2003.
6 Heffernan, William. "Consolidation in Food Retailing and Dairy." Department of Rural Sociology: University of Missouri, January, 2001.