As the world hurtles to climate catastrophe with little sign of abatement, large corporations and governments are ‘climate-proofing’ their food security with large corporate consolidation and land grabs. While the undue influence of the corporate and state fossil fuel lobby has been rightly highlighted, we must not ignore how vested interests see huge profits in dwindling food supplies.
The Problem
“Global demand for food will increase by 50 percent and yields may decline by up to 30 percent by 2050 in the absence of ambitious climate action”1.
Even now (2023) over a quarter of a billion people are acutely food-insecure and required urgent food assistance. A figure that has more than doubled in the last four years2.
One worrying factor is the degradation of the soil in which we grow most of our food. At the moment over 30% is degraded and UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) warns 90 per cent of Earth’s topsoil at risk by 20503.
Every year England and Wales loses 2.9 million tonnes of topsoil to erosion4. It has also been suggested that “Britain has only 100 harvests left in its farm soil as scientists warn of growing ‘agricultural crisis’5”.
Corporate Consolidation and ‘Climate Proofing’
Twenty five years ago ten seed companies controlled 40% of the global seed market, today it is just two. companies Similar consolidation has taken place across the agricultural sector giving huge influence and profits to a few large corporations6.
| Company | Increase in net profits since 2019 |
| Cargill | 64% |
| Louis Dreyfus | 66% |
| Wilmar | 19% |
| Archer Daniels Midland | 28% |
“The sale of 45% of one of the world’s largest commodity firms, Louis Dreyfus, to a sovereign state signals a new era of “agro-security mercantilism.” Cash-rich countries are positioning to climate-proof food security via offshore food production with little consideration for sustainability or the notion of regional food self-reliance”6.
Hedge Funds
It is not just the agricultural giants that are profiting, as some food ‘commodities’ are traded and hedge funds can make huge profits from price increases. Top hedge funds made $1.9bn during the Ukraine war food price spike7. Similar profits were made during the 2011 food price spike8 caused by the heatwave in Russia drastically cutting crop yields.
It is estimated that Barclays makes up to £340 million a year from betting, or speculating, on food prices. In the last five years, the amount of financial speculation on food has nearly doubled, from $65 billion to $126 billion9.
Food Prices And Shortages UK
Despite the recent news in the UK about the fall in the inflation rate, food inflation is still running at over 10%10. While this is bad news for many people, such inflation has been called the “greatest gift the supermarket sector could get,”11
The UK has also been hit by multiple food shortages in recent years12,13. While it may be a bit inconvenient at the moment to have empty shelves, what will it be like in 20 years?
As with the agricultural sector, a few large corporations are in control of most of the food we buy. 71% of food purchases are from large supermarkets. 16% from other outlets and 13% online with the top 5 supermarkets have nearly 75% of the market share14.
Climate researchers have warned that extreme weather is contributing one-third of all food price inflation with worse to come in 202415.
Agriculture And Climate Change
In the UK, the food system accounts for 20% of domestic emissions – but that figure rises to around 30% if we factor in the emissions produced by all the food we import16. However, it is one of the areas that offers most scope to slow climate change17.
Despite this, there has been little change in the green house gas emissions from agriculture18.
While it is easy to blame farmers for this problem, many are caught between the corporate retailers demanding lower prices and the corporate agribusinesses demanding more for seeds and fertilizer.
However, the British government has stated that it is not its role to ‘intervene in markets’19.
Corporate Capture
At the Global Food Security Summit recently (20 November 2023) held in London the UK proposed a set of techno fixes for the food crisis20. Again, this will be more funding for the corporations and allowing them to set the agenda and solutions to the problems they create.
As stated in British Medical Journal21:
“Should Big Food be an external follower of rules, regulations and laws designed by governments to protect people and planet from commercial harm? Or should Big Food be helping to formulate these very protections?”
In 2021 the UN organised a Food System Summit (UNFSS). It was promoted as a “people’s summit” with lots of talk about inclusivity and diversity and taking on the woke agenda22.
However, it received multiple criticisms, both internal23 and external24:
“As the UN Food Systems Summit takes shape, it is obvious that it does not intend to trigger the deep systemic changes necessary to address the massive challenges the world faces, including the hunger and climate crises. The Civil Society and Indigenous Peoples’ Mechanism fears that the Summit will do more of the same – green and poor wash – to preserve and perpetuate interests of a system of globalised, corporate-dominated trade, investment and finance, that benefits the world’s 10 percent, but has wreaked havoc on our planet and majority of the world’s people.”
Fighting Back
The fightback against the corporate takeover of the UN summit is not unique and there are many sources of useful information on this subject available. In particular the Food Barons report from the etc group is well worth reading.
The corporations grabbing our food should be as notorious as those in the fossil fuel industry.
Increasingly, people are working in their own communities promoting and growing healthy food.
Urban green spaces in GB, at their upper limit, have the capacity to support production that is eight times greater than current domestic production of fruit and vegetables. This amounts to 38% of current domestic production and imports combined, or >400% if exotic fruits and vegetables less suited to GB growing conditions are excluded25.
During the second world war, households grew 18% of the UK’s fruit and vegetables by value in allotments and gardens26. This has fallen to below 2%27.
We need to fundamentally change our attitude towards food. It is time to think about where our next meal is coming from. The food we have is more than a lifestyle choice.
1 Adapt Now: A Global Call For Leadership On Climate Resilience, The Global Commission On Adaptation, September 2019 (https://cdn.gca.org/assets/2019-09/GlobalCommission_Report_FINAL.pdf)
2 Global Report on Food Crises 2023; Food Security Information Network; 2023 (https://www.fsinplatform.org/sites/default/files/resources/files/GRFC2023-compressed.pdf)
3 FAO warns 90 per cent of Earth’s topsoil at risk by 2050; UN FAO; July 2023 (https://news.un.org/en/story/2022/07/1123462)
4The state of the environment: soil, UK Environment Agency 2019 (https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/805926/State_of_the_environment_soil_report.pdf)
5 Britain has only 100 harvests left in its farm soil as scientists warn of growing ‘agricultural crisis’; The Independent; October 2014 (https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/britain-facing-agricultural-crisis-as-scientists-warn-there-are-only-100-harvests-left-in-our-farm-soil-9806353.html)
6 Food Barons 2022; etc Group; September 2022 (https://etcgroup.org/content/food-barons-2022)
7 Top hedge funds made $1.9bn on grains ahead of the Ukraine war food price spike; Unearthed; May 2023 (https://unearthed.greenpeace.org/2023/04/14/ukraine-wheat-food-price-crisis-speculation/)
8 Food speculation: ‘People die from hunger while banks make a killing on food’; The Guardian; January 2011 (https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2011/jan/23/food-speculation-banks-hunger-poverty)
9 Food speculation; Global Justice Now; (https://www.globaljustice.org.uk/food-speculation/)
10 Consumer price inflation, UK: October 2023, UK Office For National Statistics; October 2023 (https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/inflationandpriceindices/bulletins/consumerpriceinflation/october2023)
11 Grocery stores are excited to charge you higher prices; CNN Business; 2021 (https://edition.cnn.com/2021/06/18/business/grocery-store-inflation-kroger-albertsons/index.html)
12 Now leeks could be off the menu as British growers warn of shortage due to ‘challenging weather’; The Independent; February 2023 (https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/food-shortages-leeks-turnips-weather-b2288775.html)
13 Why is there a shortage of tomatoes and other fruit and vegetables in the UK?; BBC; February 2023 (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-64718826)
14 Grocery Market Share; Kantar; 2023 (https://www.kantar.com/campaigns/grocery-market-share)
15 Climate crisis and energy costs fuel £600 rise in UK household food bill, analysis finds; The Guardian; November 2023 (https://www.theguardian.com/business/2023/nov/27/climate-crisis-energy-costs-fuel-uk-household-food-bill-rise)
16 Food systems and greenhouse gas emissions; FCRN: Food Climate Research Network; 2021 (https://www.tabledebates.org/sites/default/files/2021-11/Foodsource_Chapter_3.pdf)
17 The huge potential of agriculture to slow climate change; UN Environmental Programme; (https://www.unep.org/news-and-stories/story/huge-potential-agriculture-slow-climate-change)
18 Emissions by sector; Our World in Data (https://ourworldindata.org/emissions-by-sector)
19 Thérèse Coffey rules out help for farmers and consumers facing higher costs; The Guardian; December 2022 (https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/dec/06/government-will-not-intervene-to-help-famers-with-rising-food-prices-therese-coffey-says)
20 UK summit to boost food security through science and innovation; UK Government; November 2023 (https://www.gov.uk/government/news/uk-summit-to-boost-food-security-through-science-and-innovation)
21 Trust and responsibility in food systems transformation. Engaging with Big Food: marriage or mirage?; BMJ Global Health 2021;6:e007350 (https://gh.bmj.com/content/bmjgh/6/11/e007350.full.pdf)
22 Woke Science and the 4th Industrial Revolution: Inside the Making of UNFSS Knowledge; Development (2021) 64:199–211 (https://link.springer.com/article/10.1057/s41301-021-00314-z)
23 Strengthening Governance of the United Nations Food Systems Summit (UNFSS); The Ad Hoc Committee on UNFSS Governance and signatories; https://docs.google.com/document/d/1fGP9mMdu-_bqsEGfUc6EbRN8LWdN-l7jt8ih9iGGejc/edit
24 Hundreds of grassroots organizations to oppose the UN Food Systems Summit;Civil Society and Indigenous Peoples’ Mechanism (CSIPM); July 2021; (https://www.csm4cfs.org/hundreds-of-grassroots-organizations-to-oppose-the-un-food-systems-summit/)
25 Potential of urban green spaces for supporting horticultural production: a national scale analysis; Lael E Walsh et al 2022; Environ. Res. Lett. 17 014052 (https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/ac4730/pdf)
26 Allotments have been disappearing from cities – here’s why they are ripe for a comeback; Sheffield University Institute for Sustainable Food; 26 October 2020 (https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/sustainable-food/news/allotments-have-been-disappearing-cities-heres-why-they-are-ripe-comeback)
27 Family Food FYE 2022: About Family Food; UK Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs; 27 September 2023 (https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/family-food-fye-2022/family-food-fye-2022-about-family-food)
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