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date: 15 February 2025

Corporate Concentration in the Food Industrylocked

Corporate Concentration in the Food Industrylocked

  • Steve StrifflerSteve StrifflerLabor Resource Center, University of Massachusetts Boston

Summary

Food industry concentration, or the control of a relatively small number of corporations over the food system, has relatively deep historical origins, even if it has reached unprecedented levels since the 1980s. It is not simply that a handful of firms control a particular industry or crop. It is that all levels of the broader food system, including not only the production, processing, trade, and sale of food products but also of farm machinery, seeds, agrochemicals, and other inputs, are now controlled by relatively few and exceptionally large companies. This high level of concentration has determined the broad contours of our industrial food system, as well as our ability to transform it, while also having profound implications for food workers, farmers, consumers, animals, and the environment. This is true of the United States but is the case globally as well.

Subjects

  • Food Politics and Policy
  • Food Globalization and Industrialization
  • Food Justice and Sustainability

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