From Food Monopolies to Food CommonsPosted October 10th, 2011 by admin
By Eric Holt-Giménez
Published by Slow Food USA and reprinted by Slow Food EuropeOctober 4, 2011
Calls for food sovereignty, food justice and even “food democracy” are ringing from fields to kitchens around the world. In the face of the recurrent food and diet crises plaguing our planet, farmers, farm and food workers, consumers—politically engaged citizens—are struggling to regain control over their food systems. Why?
Because the “solutions” to these crises offered by governments, agri-food monopolies and multilateral institutions—e.g., more “free” trade, genetically engineered crops and the spread of giant retail chains—brought on the crises to begin with. With a billion people “stuffed” and a billion “starved” on the planet, why do the G-8 countries, the World Bank, International Monetary Fund and World Trade Organization continue to prescribe catastrophic solutions to catastrophe?
The answer is simple: the oligopolies dominating our global corporate food regime are also in crisis. The record profits and massive wealth they accumulated during the 2008 and 2011 food price inflation crises must be re-invested in order to maintain a compound rate of growth. (A compound growth rate is essential if these corporations are to keep their shareholders from selling off stock.) Unfortunately for these corporations, the imperative to re-invest comes at a time of global recession and negative economic growth. It also comes at a time when these very monopolies—because they are monopolies—have saturated their existing markets. The Monsanto corporation already dominates the industrial corn and soy market in North and Latin America. If Europe won’t permit the entry of its GMOs, where can it go to sell more seed? ADM and Cargill already control most of the world’s grain; where can they offload their product? Wal Mart and Carrefour dominate the world’s retail market; where can they expand? All are struggling to break open the vast markets of India, China and other “emerging economies,” but this is not an easy proposition anymore. Where can they re-invest their vast amounts of accumulated wealth? The monopolies have what is called a crisis of over-accumulation.
Who will solve the crisis of over-accumulation for the monopolies? The poor?
The poor are not getting any richer, but as a group they are growing at the rate of 8% and because they make up nearly half of the world’s population they offer a vast, expanding market opportunity for the agri-food monopolies. With the promise of “saving the world from hunger,” these corporations are now busy leveraging public development funds of northern governments to open new markets in Africa and Asia. Foreign food and development aid—which is fueled by public money—is being directed to poor countries so that they can buy GM grain, fertilizers, pesticides, and genetically engineered seeds from the northern monopolies. Many studies and reports have shown that agroecology is the best answer to hunger and climate change in the Global South. Poor countries also have to be allowed to protect their own agriculture. The oligopolies controlling our food systems are not solving the problem of hunger—rather, hunger is being used to solve the problem of over-accumulation for the oligopolies. ........(more)
The complete piece is at:
http://www.foodfirst.org/en/food+commons%2C+food+hubs
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