THE WAY FORWARD - Foodopoly: The Battle Over the Future of Food and Farming in America - page 178

We Cannot Shop Our Way into a Sustainable Food Future
The market alone cannot solve the problem. Many in the food movement have become so discouraged by
the undue influence that corporations have on public policy making from campaign contributions, lobby-
ing, and sheer political power that they have turned to the market for solutions. Market-based solutions are
popular because they fit well into a society that has been imbued with the libertarian philosophy: govern-
ment bad, regulation bad, individual liberty and choice good. Many influential food activists believe that
if enough people want healthy, organically grown food, the market will respond by providing it. A careful
examination of this strategy shows that we cannot shop our way to a better food future.
The organic industry demonstrates how “shopping well” cannot by itself fix the broken model. Failure
to enforce antitrust laws and to address the monopoly power of the retail and distribution network is caus-
ing the structure of the organic industry to mimic that of conventional foods. Although people pay more
for organic food, their dollars have not reshaped the food system. To the contrary, the large corporations
that have entered the organics market view it as a profitable niche and have gobbled up many of the small
organic companies that were founded by people with vision and good intentions. The failure of effective
antitrust enforcement has resulted in few outlets for organic food, and the monopoly control has raised the
price. Corporate control of the industry has also undermined its integrity as the large corporations have
successfully lobbied to use synthetic ingredients in organic food.
As this demonstrates, it is not the market that will reform the food system, it is regulation of the mar-
ket—from antitrust enforcement to commodity trading—that will begin to solve the root causes of the
problems. Unfortunately, over the past three decades our movement has fallen prey to allowing large and
conservative foundations to dictate policy prescriptions. Rather than funding the type of organizing that is
necessary to build the political power needed to rein in corporate greed and to hold elected officials ac-
countable, market-based solutions have been promoted.
This has been a failed strategy. It is time to begin the hard work of organizing to achieve the victories
we need to protect people and the planet.
Demanding a Functional Market
A sustainable food system cannot exist without fair and functioning markets. The century-old U.S. antitrust
laws were not designed to address the scale, shape, or structure of today's agricultural marketplace, and
federal enforcement has failed to effectively moderate the impact of consolidated power on consumers,
farmers, or the marketplace. While the problem infects every industrial sector, consolidation in the food
industry is stunning because it affects every link in the food chain.
An investigation by Congress into the state of competition in agriculture markets is long overdue, and it
is time for food activists to add antitrust issues to their agenda for a better food system. Unfortunately, the
technical and arcane nature of the problem, and the lack of funding for staffed food organizations to work
on antitrust reform, means that few in the food movement have engaged in this important set of issues.
Leaders on food issues cannot afford to ignore the failure to enforce and strengthen antitrust laws, be-
cause it is at the very root of our dysfunctional food system. The companies that want to sell the foods
consumers are demanding—healthier, more local, more organic—cannot get onto grocery store shelves
because of consolidation in the food industry. It is time to start demanding that the federal government
embark upon a program of enforcement and regulation that restores competition in the marketplace for the
benefit of consumers and producers.
Currently, lackluster enforcement is divided between three agencies—the Department of Justice (DOJ),
the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)—preventing a real