The Nation — October 30, 2017

October 30, 2017 The Nation. 39

BIG FOOD

S

eed and chemical corporations, meat producers, grocery

chains, even beer companies are devouring smaller

businesses as well as their major competitors, leading

to extreme consolidation throughout the food industry.

Thanks to lax antitrust enforcement, farmers are increasingly

bound by oppressive contract systems that leave them at the

mercy of the handful of companies to which they can sell. For

all of us eaters, consolidation means fewer choices and higher

prices. For Big Food, it means greater profits and ever-expanding

political power, which it defends via various lobbying groups

like the National Pork Producers Council, the American Farm

Bureau Federation, and the National Restaurant Association.

OLIGOPOLY

GRAPHIC BY NURUL HANA ANWAR

Monsanto

(USA)

26%

Bayer

(Germany)

3%

KWS

(Germany)

4%

All Others

29%

(Seed figures as of 2015)

( possible merger)

Dow

Chemical

(USA)

4%

DuPont

(USA)

21%

Limagrain

(France)

5%

Constellation

8.3

%

20.5

%

All

Others

24.6

%

42.7

%

AB

InBev

MillerCoors

3.9

%

Heineken

USA

Syngenta

(Switzerland)

8%

( possible merger)