A small handful of corporations control the world’s food industry from farm to fork. This means a few powerful companies dictating what farmers can grow and how—and almost no choice for consumers.
Industrial agriculture is a system with an expiration date. It’s only a few decades old, yet we can already add up the environmental costs of this broken system—more and more polluted waterways, clear-cut forests, inhumane treatment of livestock and megatons of greenhouse gases.
It’s quite simply unsustainable.
Thousands of workers in this industrial farming system see what’s going on. They are on the frontline, witnessing the havoc caused by this system gone wrong. Fieldworkers are forced to spray unnecessary toxic chemicals on their crops. Giant corporations sue small farms when patented GMO seeds accidentally blow into their fields. Rural communities are protesting stench and waste spewing from factory farms.
To comprehend what’s at stake, we must understand where our food comes from. Right now, we’re headed toward a future where decisions about our food future are made in closed boardrooms by executives putting profits before people.
Factory Farming Fast Facts
- Six corporations—Monsanto, DuPont, Dow, Syngenta, Bayer and BASF—control 75 percent of the world pesticides market.
- Factory farms now account for 72 percent of poultry production, 43 percent of egg production, and 55 percent of pork production worldwide.
- Only four corporations—ADM, Bunge, Cargill and Dreyfus—control more than 75 percent of the global grain trade. They overwhelmingly push commodity crops like corn and soy on local farmers at the expense of native crops.