This post focuses on the major transformations that have taken place globally in seeds and digital agriculture in the last four years—since the last update of the seed industry structure graphic in 2018. Continue reading Recent Changes in the Global Seed Industry and Digital Agriculture Industries
Published October 7, 2021 Who controls what we eat? This book reveals how dominant corporations, from the supermarket to the seed industry, exert control over contemporary food systems. It analyzes the strategies these firms are using to reshape society in order to further increase their power, particularly in terms of their bearing upon the more vulnerable sections of society, such as recent immigrants, ethnic minorities … Continue reading Revised edition: Concentration and Power in the Food System
Recent years have seen the convergence of industries that focus on higher protein foods, such as meat processing firms expanding into plant-based substitutes and/or cellular meat production, and fisheries firms expanding into aquaculture. A driving force behind these changes is dominant firms seeking to increase their power relative to close competitors, including by extending beyond boundaries that pose constraints to growth. The broad banner of … Continue reading “Protein” industry convergence
A special report to the Family Farm Action Alliance, November 19, 2020. Click on images above for PDF versions Report Highlights Consolidation is happening across all sectors in the food system, at the national and global levels, and has resulted in a particular set of power relationships. This has resulted in numerous negative impacts on farmers, workers and their communities as well as consumers, who … Continue reading The Food System: Concentration and Its Impacts
More than a decade has passed since the world was awoken by the publication of the International Assessment of Agricultural Knowledge, Science and Technology for Development (IAASTD) report. Now, a new book takes stock of what has been achieved since the release of that ground-breaking “Agriculture at a Crossroads” report. Continue reading The State of Concentration in Global Food and Agriculture Industries
I put together the first version of this graphic in 2003, approximately a year after the USDAs national organic standard was phased in. This national standard helped to catalyze scores of acquisitions of pioneering organic brands by larger food processors and venture capitalists. These trends have only intensified. Continue reading Organic Processing Industry Structure 2020
This graphic shows the current ownership relations among U.S. beer brands as of December 2019. Since the previous version of this graphic (October 2017), a number of changes have occurred… Continue reading Recent Changes in the U.S. Beer Industry
Recent years have seen the “Big 6” agrochemical/seed firms combine into a Big 4. These four firms are now estimated to control over 60% of global proprietary seed sales. Continue reading Global Seed Industry Changes Since 2013
Summary: Big brewers, which have experienced declining sales for their beer brands in the last decade, have been accused of “craftwashing” by some craft brewers and their aficionados—they define craftwashing as big brewers (>6 million barrels per year) taking advantage of the increasing sales of craft beer by emulating these products or by acquiring craft breweries, while also obscuring their ownership from consumers. To estimate … Continue reading Craftwashing in the U.S. Beer Industry
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 Kingdom – the vast majority of farmers, consumers and communities are left out of key decisions about how we farm and what we eat. Continue reading Power, Food and Agriculture
Philip H. Howard 