{"id":269369,"date":"2016-09-24T17:03:58","date_gmt":"2016-09-24T17:03:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/?p=269369"},"modified":"2016-10-18T13:35:47","modified_gmt":"2016-10-18T13:35:47","slug":"system-food-production-human-need-not-corporate-greed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/editorials\/system-food-production-human-need-not-corporate-greed\/","title":{"rendered":"A System Of Food Production For Human Need, Not Corporate Greed"},"content":{"rendered":"

Colin Todhunter<\/em><\/p>\n

There has been an adverse trend in the food and agriculture sector in recent times with the control of seeds and chemical inputs being consolidated through\u00a0various proposed mergers<\/a>. If these mergers go through, it\u00a0would mean that three companies<\/a> would dominate the commercial agricultural seeds and chemicals sector. Over the past couple of decades, there has already been a restriction of choice with the squeezing out of competitor<\/a>s, resulting in\u00a0higher costs<\/a>\u00a0for farmers, who are\u00a0increasingly reliant on\u00a0corporate seeds (and their chemical inputs<\/a>)<\/u>.<\/p>\n

Big agribusiness players like Monsanto rely on\u00a0massive taxpayer<\/a>\u00a0handouts to keep their business models on track; highly profitable models that have immense\u00a0social, health and environmental costs<\/a>\u00a0to be paid for by the public. Across the globe\u00a0healthy, sustainable agriculture<\/a>\u00a0has been uprooted and transformed to suit the profit margins of transnational agribusiness concerns.\u00a0The major players in the global agribusiness sector fuel a\u00a0geo-politicised<\/a>, globalised system of food production that result in\u00a0numerous\u00a0negative outcomes for both farmers and consumers alike (listed\u00a0here<\/a>: 4th paragraph from the end).<\/p>\n

Aside from the domination of the market being a cause for concern, we should also be worried about a food system controlled by companies that have a history (see\u00a0this<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0this<\/a>) of releasing health-damaging, environmentally polluting products onto the market and engaging in activities that might be considered as constituting\u00a0crimes against humanity<\/a>.\u00a0If we continue to hand over the control of society\u2019s most important infrastructure \u2013 food and agriculture \u2013 to these wealthy private interests, what will the future look like?<\/p>\n

There is no need to engage in idle speculation. Foods based on\u00a0CRISPR<\/a>\u00a0(a gene-editing technology for which\u00a0Monsanto has just acquired<\/a>\u00a0a non-exclusive global licensing agreement for use) and\u00a0synthetic biology<\/a>\u00a0are already entering the market without regulation or proper health or environmental assessments. And we can expect many more unregulated<\/a>\u00a0GM technologies<\/a> to influence the nature of our food and flood the commercial market.<\/p>\n

Despite nice sounding rhetoric by company spokespersons about the humanitarian motives behind these endeavours, the bottom line is patents and profit. And despite nice sounding rhetoric about the precision of the techniques involved, these technologies pose\u00a0health and environmental risks<\/a>. Moreover,\u00a0CRIPRS technology could be used to create genes drives and terminator seed trait tools could be used for\u00a0unscrupulous<\/a>\u00a0political and commercial ends.<\/p>\n

There could well be severe social and economic consequences too. The impacts of synthetic biology (another sector dominated by a handful of private interests) on farmers in the Global South could result in a bio-economy of landlessness and hunger. Readers are urged to read\u00a0this report<\/a>\u00a0which outlines the effects on farming, farmers and rural economies: synthetic biology has the potential to undermine livelihoods and would mean a shift to narrower range of export-oriented mono-cropping to produce biomass for synbio processes that place stress on water resources and food security in the exporting countries.<\/p>\n

Aside from these social, health and environmental implications, can we trust private entities like Monsanto (or Bayer) to use these powerful (potentially bio-weapon) technologies responsibly? Given Monsanto\u2019s long history of cover-ups and duplicity, trust took the last train out a long time ago. Moreover, the legalities of existing frameworks appear to mean little to certain companies: see here what Vandana Shiva says about the\u00a0illegality of Monsanto\u2019s enterprise<\/a>\u00a0in India. National laws that exist to protect the public interest are little more than mere hurdles to be got around by lobbyists, lawyers and political pressure. So what can be done?<\/p>\n

Agroecology is a force for grass-root rural change that would be independent from the cartel of powerful biotech\/agribusiness companies. This model of agriculture is already providing\u00a0real solutions<\/a>\u00a0for sustainable, productive agriculture that prioritises the needs of farmers and consumers. It represents an alternative to corporate-controlled agriculture.<\/p>\n

However, as much as people and communities strive to become independent from unscrupulous corporate concerns and as much as localised food systems try to extricate themselves from the impacts of\u00a0rigged global trade and markets<\/a>, there also has to be a concerted effort to roll back corporate power and challenge what it is doing to our food. These corporations will not just go away because people eat organic or choose agroecology.<\/p>\n

The extremely wealthy interests behind these corporations do their level best to displace or dismantle alternative models of production – whether agroecology, organic, public sector agriculture systems or anything that exists independently from them – and replace them with ones that serve their needs. Look no further than attempts to\u00a0undermine indigenous edible oils processing<\/a>\u00a0in India, for instance. Look no further than the \u2018mustard seed crisis<\/a>‘ in India in 1998. Or look no further than how transnational biotech helped fuel and then benefit from the destruction of\u00a0Ethiopia\u2019s traditional agrarian economy<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Whether it\u2019s on the back of US-backed coups (Ukraine<\/a>), military conflicts (Iraq<\/a>), \u2018structural adjustment\u2019 (Africa<\/a>) or slanted trade deals (India<\/a>), transnational agribusiness is driving a global agenda to suit its interests and eradicate impediments to profit.<\/p>\n

To underline this point, let’s turn to what Michel Chossudovsky says in his 1997 book\u00a0\u2018The Globalization of Poverty\u2019. He argues that economies are:<\/p>\n

\u201copened up through the concurrent displacement of a pre-existing productive system. Small and medium-sized enterprises are pushed into bankruptcy or obliged to produce for a global distributor, state enterprises are privatised or closed down, independent agricultural producers are impoverished.\u201d (p.16)<\/p>\n

Increasing profit and shareholder dividends are the bottom line. And it doesn\u2019t matter how much devastation ensues or how unsustainable their business model is, \u2018crisis management\u2019 and \u2018innovation\u2019 fuel the\u00a0corporate-controlled treadmill<\/a>\u00a0they seek to impose.<\/p>\n

As long as the domination of the food system by powerful private interests is regarded as legitimate and as long as their hijack of governments, trade bodies and trade deals, regulatory agencies and universities is deemed normal or is unchallenged in the sham \u2018liberal democracies\u2019 they operate within, we are destined for a future of more contaminated food, ill health, degraded environments and an agriculture displaced and uprooted for the benefit of self-interest.<\/p>\n

The problems associated with the food system cannot be dealt with on a single-issue basis: it is not just about the labelling of GM foods; it\u2019s not just about the impacts of Monsanto\u2019s Roundup; it\u2019s not just about Monsanto (or Bayer) as a company; and it\u2019s not just about engaging in endless debates with corporate shills about the science of GMOs.<\/p>\n

Despite the promise of the Green Revolution,\u00a0hundreds of millions<\/a>\u00a0still go to bed hungry, food has become\u00a0denutrified<\/a>, functioning rural economies have been\u00a0destroyed<\/a>, diseases have\u00a0spiked<\/a>\u00a0in correlation with the increase in use of pesticides and GMOs, soil has been\u00a0eroded or degraded<\/a>, diets are\u00a0less diverse<\/a>, global food security has been\u00a0undermined<\/a>\u00a0and access to food is\u00a0determined by<\/a>\u00a0manipulated international markets and speculation – not supply and demand.<\/p>\n

Food and agriculture have become wedded to power structures that have created food surplus and food deficit areas and have restructured indigenous agriculture across the world and tied it to an international system of trade based on export-oriented mono-cropping, commodity production for a manipulated and volatile international market and indebtedness to international financial institutions.<\/p>\n

The problem is the system of international capitalism that is driving a globalised system of\u00a0bad food and poor health<\/a>, the\u00a0destruction<\/a>\u00a0of healthy, sustainable agriculture and systemic, half-baked attacks on both\u00a0groups<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0individuals<\/a>\u00a0who oppose these processes.<\/p>\n

At the very least, there should be\u00a0full public control over all GMO\/synthetic biology production and research. And if we are serious about reining in the power of profiteering corporations over food – our most basic and essential infrastructure – they should be placed under democratic ownership and control.<\/p>\n

In finishing, let us turn to Ghiselle Karim who at the end of her\u00a0insightful article<\/a>\u00a0says:<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2026 we demand that it is our basic human right to protect our food supply\u2026 [food<\/em>] would be planned to meet human need, not corporate greed.\u00a0 We have hunger not because there is not enough food, but rather because it is not distributed equally. The core of the problem is not a shortage of food, but capitalism!\u201d<\/p>\n

Colin Todhunter is an independent writer\/analyst<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Colin Todhunter There has been an adverse trend in the food and agriculture sector in recent times with the control of seeds and chemical inputs being consolidated through\u00a0various proposed mergers. If these mergers go through, it\u00a0would mean that three companies would dominate the commercial agricultural seeds and chemicals sector. Over the past couple of decades, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1214,"featured_media":269378,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[487,461],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-269369","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-breaking-news","8":"category-editorials"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/269369","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1214"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=269369"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/269369\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/269378"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=269369"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=269369"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=269369"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}