A new report from Family Farm Action Alliance shows how agrifood consolidation reduces farmer autonomy. The two leading firms, for example, account for 70 percent of corn and 61 percent of soybean seed sales in the United States. And the leading firm controls more than half the sales of heavy tractors and combines. The redistribution of costs and benefits across the food chain, the report argues, negatively impacts farmer incomes and consumer choice.

The report, The Food System: Concentration and Its Impacts, was commissioned by Family Farm Action Alliance and completed by experts from the University of Missouri, Michigan State University, Family Farm Action Alliance, and Sam Houston State University.

The researchers broke down rates of corporate consolidation globally for agricultural inputs such as agrochemicals, animal pharmaceuticals, seeds, farm equipment, and synthetic fertilizer. The report notes that the top four firms in each of these sectors control between 33 and 65 percent of the market.

The report shows high rates of consolidation in livestock sectors, as well as wheat, corn, and soybeans. It also notes that for many consumer products, including cold cereal, beer, bread, and fresh-cut salads, the top four firms control upwards of 50 percent of the market.

Miller explains that much of the power to make decisions about the food system and who has access to safe, nutritious food lies with industrial agriculture corporations. While these corporations often say that large, consolidated operations are necessary to provide enough food and allow producers to make ends meet, Miller argues that this is simply not true.

Family Farm Action Alliance hopes to shift the current balance of power in industrial agrifood systems, and believes that the report will help to engage the public in their fight to do so. The report offers Possibilities for Democratizing the Food System, but rather than offer fully formed policy solutions, the authors of the report encourage policy-makers, farmers, workers, and communities to work together in the pursuit of stronger policies.

Read the full article about industrial agrifood systems by Madeleine Sheinfeld at Food Tank.