Dysfunction of the food system

The cost of producing food far exceeds the price we pay at the supermarket. The global food system is broken, and unfortunately, the consequences of this are invisible to us. Huge megacorporations, “too big to fail”, exploiting our planet and people – all with the support of politicians. This cannot continue!

Why the Current Global Food System Is Bad?

It may seem that industrialized food production has brought us to a point of no return. The food sector is a major cause of climate change, accounting for 40% of greenhouse gas emissions. Unfortunately, even though we produce more food than ever before, it is estimated that 768 million people worldwide suffer from hunger. Despite the goal of ending world hunger by 2030, these numbers have been increasing for the third year in a row! How is this possible?

Living in Abundance of Food

Exported goods make up a large part of the products in European supermarkets, yet we cannot find out the distance they have traveled to reach our market. We also do not know the working conditions in which they were produced. Would we still buy them if we had such knowledge? Access to healthy food is also a problem. Food that has to travel a long distance is often processed and contains many substances undesirable for the human body.

Huge Amounts of Food and Energy Consumption

Economies of the past, focused on local production and recycling, have been replaced by a one-way system of continuous flow serving the entire globe. As a result, we create huge amounts of carbon dioxide emissions during the processing, packaging, storing, and transporting of our food – only to throw away more of it than ever before. The total energy consumption in the food sector accounts for 30% of global energy consumption! The meat industry, in particular, is a significant contributor to this.

Domination of Global Major Players

We have created an agricultural sector dominated by market imperatives of profit maximization and growth. This has led to a huge concentration of power at the top of the supply chain and growing inequality between farmers exporting their products and those dependent on local markets. Small farmers are systematically deprived of rights through, among other things, price inflation, displacement from land, and control over seeds and patents. Anyone unable to compete is pushed out.

Supermarkets

Supermarkets have a huge impact on the way our food is produced and distributed. The larger the market share of supermarket chains, the greater their power in dictating prices and terms to suppliers. Competition between supermarket chains has the effect of displacing local retailers and producers, and concentrating market power in a few large networks. These networks ultimately determine the range of products on the shelves, from which shoppers can choose.

Modern slavery

Providing more food at lower prices is not possible without exploiting workers. Violations of human rights and labor rights are common in agriculture. The lack of legal protection means that many workers are regularly exposed to dangerous working conditions. The employment of vulnerable groups such as migrants and women is particularly widespread because their legal status and position in society make exploitation easier. Such individuals have little knowledge of local laws, have poorly protected rights, or have uncertain residency status.

Battle for Arable Land

Large corporations, but also governments, acquire vast areas of land, especially in underdeveloped countries, for profitable cultivation of food or other agricultural products. In this way, they secure their food supplies, but also their imperial power structure. Arable land has become a valuable investment and a subject of speculation. Land grabbing often occurs illegally and with the use of violence, sometimes even involving the police or military. In the long term, it destroys the livelihoods of indigenous communities and local smallholders, who are increasingly being displaced. This form of land acquisition is also known as land grabbing. Again, the industrial meat production proves to be a major culprit – to meet, for example, the demand for meat, more and more land is needed for the cultivation of animal feed.

In Europe, too, the inequality in land distribution is obvious: about 3% of companies own about 59% of the land.

Environmental Destruction for More Arable Land

Today, agriculture consumes about 70% of the world’s available fresh water. The fertility of natural soils is declining, for example, due to the use of dangerous pesticides for faster growth, which permanently damage the soils and contaminate groundwater. With ongoing deforestation and clearing of rainforests, the natural habitats of plants, animals, and indigenous peoples are gradually destroyed to make room for even more arable land. The mass die-off of insect populations is already a reality!

Industrial Agriculture: A Destructive Vicious Circle

The free market ideology driving our current form of industrial agriculture is fundamentally flawed: it primarily benefits gigantic corporations. The food system focuses on profits, not needs. Industrial agriculture is dominated by continuous growth and productivity, and competition leads to a constant search for low labor and production costs – the true cost of our food is borne by exploited workers, dispossessed landowners, small farmers, and the environment, whose resources are limited.

A challenging task!

We need a positive vision for change that we will build together. Because we have power – not only through the choices we make in the supermarket but also through the pressure we can apply to our institutions. If you long for justice, join our efforts!