Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
CHAPTER 4
The Global Supply Chain
The Global Food System
The contours of a truly global system of agriculture and food production are quickly coming
into focus. From the biotechnology laboratories to the dinner table, large multinational cor-
porations are taking control of where, when, and how food is produced, processed, and dis-
tributed. As Bill Heffernan, a rural sociologist at the University of Missouri, recently noted
in a 1999 report to the National Farmers Union, “The major concern about concentration of
the food system focuses on the control exercised by a handful of firms over decision-making
throughout the food system. The question is who is able to make decisions about buying and
selling products in a marketplace.” 1
Heffernan identifies a handful of “food-chain clusters” that are taking control of the food
system from the “gene to the supermarket shelf.” These include (1) Cargill/Monsanto (2)
Conagra, and (3) Novartis/ADM. 2 In a similar vein, the Rural Advancement Foundation In-
ternational (RAFI) published “The Gene Giants: Masters of the Universe,” which describes
how transnational firms are coming to dominate the market for agrochemicals, seeds, phar-
maceuticals, and animal feed and products. According to RAFI, the food and beverage giants
are the “true titans” of the “life industry.” Total retail sales of food worldwide are estimated
at $2 trillion. 3 As genetic engineering and related technologies become more widely used in
agricultural production and food processing, transnational firms in the food and beverage in-
dustry are likely to form alliances with the seed, biotechnology, and agrochemical companies
that Heffernan discusses.
Today, mass-production food processors and distributors along with mass-market retailers
have become dominant fixtures in the American food economy. These large-scale producers
and retailers provide abundant quantities of relatively inexpensive, standardized goods. The
degree of concentration has reached the point where the ten largest multinational food pro-
cessors control over 60 percent of the food and beverages sold in the United States. Accord-
ing to Prepared Foods, the leading trade publication for the food and beverage industry, the
list of the largest food processing companies is led by Swiss giant Nestlé (see table 4.1).
Search WWH ::




Custom Search