BACKGROUND
Demand for all resources is increasing
exponentially as the world’s population explodes. If current projections hold
true, Earth’s population will grow from 7 billion today to 9 billion by 2040.
The middle class will also increase by 3 billion over the next 20 years. By
2030, we will require 50% more food than we currently demand. This is
especially problematic given environmental changes that are likely to limit
supply. The current trajectory will place 3 billion people into poverty and
efforts toward sustainable development are not significant enough to change
that course. 1
SUPPLY
AND DEMAND
As demand grows and production
increases slow, prices for the largest food commodity crops are rising
sharply. As more commodity crops are being used for biofuels and animal feed,
less is available for human consumption. Adverse weather conditions in
typically high-producing areas are negatively impacting overall supply. Rising
energy and production costs as well as import/export policy changes are also
contributing to increased costs. 2
CORPORATIONS
Huge agribusiness companies control
much of the world’s food supply by controlling huge shares of global markets
for grains, fertilizers, pesticides and seeds. Their involvement starts at the
farm and ends at your fork. Some of the
biggest agribusiness corporations include:
Cargill
Multinational producer of “food, agricultural,
financial, and industrial products and services”3
One of the largest privately held companies in
the world4
Founded in 1865 and headquartered
in Minnesota4
Employs 140,000 in 65 countries
Operating Income of $1.17 Billion in FY 20123
Nestle
Largest food company in the world measured by
revenues, which exceed $92 billion
Founded in 1866 and headquartered in Vevey,
Switzerland
Employs 339,0006
Monsanto
Multinational agricultural biotechnology
corporation and producer of genetically engineered seeds and of the popular
herbicide Roundup
Founded in 1901 and headquartered in Creve
Coeur, Missouri
Revenues of nearly $12 billion
Employs 20,6007
ConAgra
Packaged foods company whose portfolio of
brands include Slim Jim, Hebrew National, Egg Beaters, Orville Redenbacher,
Hunt’s, Healthy Choice, and more
Founded in 1919 and headquartered in Omaha,
Nebraska
Revenues exceed $13 Billion
Employs 26,1008
Archer Daniels Midland
Global food-processing and commodities-trading
corporation
Founded in 1902 and headquartered in Decatur,
Illinois
Revenues of $89 Billion
Employs 30,0009
Other
Corporations:
Farm equipment manufacturers and food
retailers also influence the food supply.
Hedge funds and investment firms help shape global markets.
All of these companies and their
interest groups shape government food policy.
They are often criticized for their negative impact on small farmers and
promotion of energy-hungry industrial agricultural operations. For this reason,
they are often blamed for helping to create an unsustainable system of
production and distribution.10
DOMESTIC
POLICY
In the United States, most of our
agricultural policy is set forth in the Farm Bill, which is renewed every five
years by the US Congress. The Farm Bill dictates the USDA’s priorities and has
included funding provisions for everything from food stamps and subsidized
school lunch to government subsidies and purchasing of surplus commodity crops.
The Farm Bill also funds research, international food aid, crop insurance, and
farmer loans. The 2008 Farm Bill is set to expire this month; congress has been
unable to pass the 2013 Farm Bill due to ideological differences. 11
GLOBAL
POLICY
The Food and Agriculture Organization
of the United Nations strives to achieve food security for all. Their mandate
is to improve nutrition, increase agricultural productivity, and raise the
standard of living in rural populations while contributing to global economic
growth. Headquartered in Rome, FAO is active in over 130 countries and employs
nearly 4,000.12
The FAO Budget is $2.4 billion, 42% of
which comes from assessed contributions paid by member countries, while 58% comes
from voluntary contributions.13 According to the FAO, one in eight
people are undernourished and 852 million of those 870 million people are in
developing countries.14
The Committee on World Food Security
(CFS) is another intergovernmental body which partners with FAO and that serves
as a forum in the United Nations System for review and follow-up of policies
concerning world food security including production and physical and economic
access to food. 15
There are many other international
NGOs focused on food access, agriculture, and sustainability. Many of them collaborate
with the United Nations’ World Food Programme.16
Part of the challenge of meeting the
growing global demand for food is lack of international agreement and the
impact that large-scale agribusiness operations have on the global, not local,
environment. Excessive use of pesticides, for example, has been linked to colony collapse disorder17 while
runoff of herbicides has killed life in rivers, river deltas, and gulfs.18
Some
countries are working hard to increase agricultural productivity without using
genetically engineered seeds, which threaten self-sufficient farming
operations. Meanwhile, in the US, corporations like Monsanto routinely file
suit against farmers for patent infringement, which the farmers are unable to
prevent against due to the nature of seed pollination. 19
Traditionally, farmers saved and cleaned seeds from prior years’ crops to
replant them, a self-sustaining model that farmers have relied on since the
beginning of agriculture. Today, because of seed patents, farmers are forced to
buy new seeds every year and need to buy the pesticides and fertilizers that go
with those seeds if they want to maximize their yield.
SUSTAINABLE
AGRICULTURE
Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) defines sustainable
agriculture as profit over long term; stewardship of land, air, and water; and
quality of life for farmers, ranchers, & communities. SARE
spotlights farms achieving higher
yields & better overall land use with added benefit of long-term
sustainability. 20 Critics of sustainable agriculture cite
lower yields, higher land use, and question sustainable agriculture’s ability
to feed exploding world population. 21
Methods used
in sustainable agriculture include:
•
Ecological pest & weed control
•
Diversification of crops, livestock, &
landscape
•
Energy conservation & production
•
Direct marketing/sales
The
consequences of unsustainable (industrial-scale) agriculture include:
•
Top soil erosion
•
EWG found erosion to be 2x the rate deemed
sustainable by the USDA in parts of Iowa 22
•
Groundwater contamination
•
groundwater supplies ¼ of US drinking water
•
EPA identified carcinogens from fertilizers
& pesticides in groundwater 23
•
Concentrated farm ownership
•
Results in higher prices and less choice (~38%
increase in food costs 2002-12) 24
•
2007: 4 companies controlled 83.5% of beef,
66% of hogs, 58.5% of chicken, 50% of seed markets 25
•
Antibiotic resistance
•
Overuse in livestock contributes to
antibiotic-resistant infections
•
1 such strain of bacteria linked to hog farms
results in more US deaths/year than AIDS 26
CONCLUSION
There is no easy answer to the
question of how we will meet the growing global demand for food as the
population explodes and arable land erodes. On the one side, large agribusiness
claims that GMOs and genetically engineered seeds plus pesticides, herbicides
and fertilizer are the solution. On the other side, advocates for sustainable
agriculture encourage the use of organic methods to reduce pollution. What
cannot be disputed is the simple fact that as people move out of poverty, they
consume more meat and that it can take up to 13 pounds of grain to produce just
one pound of meat.
References:
1: World Food Demand to Outpace Supply in
Coming Decades, UN Claims http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/30/world-food-demand-population-growth_n_1241435.html
First Posted: 01/30/2012 8:56
am Updated: 03/31/2012 5:12 am
2: Trostle, Ronald, Global Agricultural Supply
and Demand: Factors Contributing to the Recent Increase in Food Commodity
Prices. A Report from the Economic Research Service. Outlook No. (WRS-0801) 30
pp, July 2008.
3: Cargill, Inc. 2012 Annual Report: Essential work in
a changing world. Minneapolis.
2012.
4: Forbes. “America’s Largest Private Companies.” <http://www.forbes.com/2010/11/01/largest-private-companies-business-private-companies-10-intro.html>
5: Cargill, Inc. <http://www.cargill.com/company/glance/index.jsp>
6: "Annual
Results 2012" (PDF). Nestlé.
7: 2011
Annual Report, Form 10-K/A, Monsanto Company, Filing Date December 1,
2011". secdatabase.com.
9: Archer
Daniels Midland, Form 10-K, Annual Report, Filing Date Aug 27, 2012" (PDF). secdatabase.com. 10: http://www.globalpolicy.org/social-and-economic-policy/world-hunger/agribusiness-companies.html
11: Neuman, Scott. Why The Farm Bill's Provisions Will Matter
To You. June 13, 2012
17: Wines, Michael (28
March 2013). "Mystery
Malady Kills More Bees, Heightening Worry on Farms". New York
Times.
18: Helfrich, LA, Weigmann, DL, Hipkins,
P, and Stinson, ER (June 1996), Pesticides and aquatic animals: A guide to reducing
impacts on aquatic systems. Virginia Cooperative Extension.
19: Haitian Farmers Commit to Burning Monsanto Hybrid Seeds Posted: 05/17/10
12:44 PM ET
20: “What is Sustainable Agriculture?” from
Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education, http://www.sare.org/.
21. National Geographic, http://environment.nationalgeographic.com/environment/habitats/sustainable-agriculture/.
22: USDA webasite,
http://www.nal.usda.gov/afsic/pubs/agnic/susag.shtml.
23. Environmental Working Group website, http://www.ewg.org/losingground/report/executive-summary.html.
24: Environmental Protection Agency “Citizen’s
Guide to Groundwater Protection,” http://water.epa.gov/infrastructure/drinkingwater/sourcewater/protection/upload/2007_11_29_sourcewater_pubs_citguid.pdf.
25: United States Department of Agriculture, http://www.cnpp.usda.gov/usdafoodcost-home.htm.
27. Union of Concerned Scientists, http://www.ucsusa.org/food_and_agriculture/solutions/strengthen-healthy-farm-policy/pamta.html.
Other sources of information not
directly used:
Agricultural Sustainability Institute at
University of California – Davis, http://www.sarep.ucdavis.edu/about/def#animal-production-practices.
“Sustainable Agriculture: An Introduction”
from the National Sustainable Agriculture Information Service, http://www.attra.ncat.org.
McNally, Jess. “Can Vegetarianism Save
the World?”
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