We all know there is massive concentration in the conventional food industry,
which is not unique to food — it permeates most major industries
(FAANG in the tech
industry, for example). Economists can talk about the financial problems it
creates;
but the climate, soil and health (CSH) costs of this food-industry
concentration are often ignored.
From my point of view, there are three key developments that got us here:
-
Coming out of World War II, the production of chemicals we used to kill
Nazis "had to" be repurposed. So, what did we do? We created pesticides,
herbicides and fertilizers to spread on human food.
-
Earl Butz, the Sec'y of
Agriculture about 50 years ago, said it's all about farms getting BIG (or
going home).
-
What followed was a complex web of USDA subsidies in the tens of
billions of dollars that incentivize the industry and behavior we have
today. The downstream effects of the resulting massive shift to monoculture
crops to qualify for federal subsidies have been to weaken the resilience
of US
agriculture.
The resulting CSH costs are rapidly degrading and disappearing
topsoil,
loss of massive carbon sequestration
potential
in our soil, and a proliferation of highly processed (sugar, artificial
everything, etc) food that has led to massive public healthcare
costs
(none of this is a political statement on these consequences, by the way — they
are just facts).
Which brings us to the growing movement around
organic
and regenerative
agriculture:
It is an "answer" to all of this, and it has an underlying economic engine.
Currently, these more holistic approaches to growing food only represent roughly
1-2 percent of global
agriculture;
but growing momentum from
brands,
producers,
financiers
and
consumers
provide some hope: The global regenerative ag market accounted for US$1.31
billion in 2024 and is projected to surpass around US$5.77 billion by
2034 —
representing a healthy CAGR of 15.97 percent in the next 10 years.
But in the meantime, one of the most fundamental and brutal outcomes of this
current market concentration is that farmers and producers have no market power
or leverage. When the US’ 'Big Four' beef
packers
fix prices by restricting their
production,
for example, they are (just like for any other crop or livestock) screwing over
every farm that supplies them — and those farms have no choice. If you want a
quick, evocative synopsis of all this, listen to cattleman Will Harris on Joe
Rogan two years ago; and I had a
recent conversation with Strategic News Service’s
Future in Review podcast about
why food costs so much and what to do about it. Also, check out the documentary,
Kiss the Ground; and its sequel, Common
Ground.
So, there is hope — but it's gonna be a hell of a fight.
Last thought: One argument you will often hear is about how these monoculture
crops and CAFO
livestock are
needed to scale enough food to feed the world. If we had aligned the economic
incentives differently, there would have been enough money to grow enough food
the right way.
Regardless, if we don’t shift our approach to growing the world’s food soon,
we’ll see what happens when the scaling “solution” we’ve relied on
ultimately kills those same people it's meant to feed.
Paul Shoemaker is ED at Carnation Farms — a community-based hub for regenerative food and agriculture that educates and empowers the work of culinary & food and farming professionals.
Published Dec 18, 2024 8am EST / 5am PST / 1pm GMT / 2pm CET