Profiting from Hunger
•Download as PPTX, PDF•
0 likes•137 views
Sabrina Espeleta of War on Want outlines the enormous and growing level of world hunger. She explains how a few global corporations control the vast majority of food production and supply and markets exploit the food market, leaving communities, especially in the Global South at great disadvantage. Local peasant farmers are now organising to achieve food sovereignty, seeking to farm in ways in harmony with nature and to meet local needs. The Global North needs to respect the rights and autonomy of these people rather than to continue the pattern of exploitation. This presentation was given on 6 July in Part 4 of a webinar series on grassroots policies for farming, food and wildlife. Watch the recording at: https://citizen-network.org
Recommended
More Related Content
Similar to Profiting from Hunger
Similar to Profiting from Hunger (20)
More from Citizen Network
More from Citizen Network (20)
Recently uploaded
Recently uploaded (20)
Profiting from Hunger
- 1. The Multiple Crises: hunger
- 4. Multiple crises: wars Yemen war: Yemen imports 90% of its staple crops and much of the population relies on food aid after almost a decade of civil war. Ukraine war: top 10 hedge funds make Billions of profits in speculation of Grains prices
- 5. Multiple crises: climate According to The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), weather- related hazards displaced 24.9 million people across 140 countries around the world in 2019, many of whom were agricultural workers and small-scale peasant farmers, who lost both their homes and livelihoods. 1.5°C of global heating risks crop failure of staple crops in major food-producing countries. While increased heatwaves, droughts and floods from climate breakdown are already exposing millions of people to acute food insecurity.
- 7. Who profits from hunger: increasing concentration Source: ETC GROUP, ‘Food Barons 2022 - Crisis Profiteering, Digitalization and Shifting Power,’ (2022)
- 8. Who profits from hunger: asset management companies
- 9. Who profits from hunger Particularly in the last decade, land – including agricultural land - has become an increasingly popular portfolio investment, and the financialisaton of agriculture has had a huge effect on food prices, through speculation on agricultural futures on international markets.
- 10. The Industrial Agri-food Systems Since the Green Revolution sixty years ago, highly intensive farming technology has been considered the most effective way to produce enough food: however, the social, economic and environmental impacts of this model have been devastating. It has become increasingly evident that the solution is NOT the model of the Green Revolution anymore. The advancement of the soy frontier and deforestation of the Amazon rainforest, near Santarem, Brazil
- 11. The global South Agrotoxics: heavy use and reliance on toxic pesticides and fertilisers (often banned in the EU and UK, but exported to the South from these same countries) The plantation model for exports / of vital importance for countries in the global South to secure foreign exchange (USD) for trading and debt repayments
- 12. The global South Precarious and underpaid workers in the global North and South
- 13. In the UK Precarious and underpaid workers in food factories and farms: low wage, miserable housing conditions, rigid visa conditions Seasonal workers from eastern Europe picking asparagus Housing conditions: 1-bedroom caravans shared by 5 people at £2,000/month
- 14. In the UK A model that is heavily dependent on food imports and supermarkets monopoly The UK relies on trade deals to bring in cheap produce as part of its post-Brexit trade strategy, such as the recently signed Morocco deal (2019), while growing only 58% of food consumed in the country.
- 15. In the UK Other important factors: - High land concentration in England (the highest in Europe): 25,000 landowners – typically members of the aristocracy and corporations – have control of half of the country (less than 1% of its population) - Low variety in farms production (e.g. no investment in horticulture) - Access to job market not appealing / no incentives for smallholder farming (young people prefer other types of jobs)
- 16. The Solutions – popular resistance and food sovereignty
- 17. The six principles of food sovereignty Graphic: North African Network for Food Sovereignty, “Report: “Challenging Agribusiness and Building Alternatives in Tunisia and Morocco”: Food sovereignty enables communities to grow food that is appropriate for their lands and culture and guarantees democratic control over how it is distributed and traded. It is a practical solution that puts power in the hands of people, not corporations.
- 18. Integrated demands for just global agri-food systems (where the UK can play an important role) • End of speculation on food and the suspension of trading food products on stock markets • New food governance (not co-opted by corporations, hedge funds and their profits– e.g. UN Food Systems Summit - but based on human rights) • Forbid the use of agricultural products to produce agrofuel or energy. Food should be an absolute priority over fuel. • Bring a global moratorium on the payment of foreign debt of global south countries • Real sovereignty for countries in the south (including monetary) to bring a just transition and develop alternative economic sectors less dependent on exports (e.g. plantation model) • A radical change in international trade order and localisation of food systems (e.g. territorial markets, food coops, change in public procurement of food). • The implementation of popular and integral Agrarian Reforms – land rights for those who produce our food; • Transition from monocultures and heavy use of chemical pesticides and fertilizers to a model of peasant agroecology (land rights + agriculture that works with nature)
- 19. Integrated demands for just global agri-food systems (where the UK can play an important role) • A global moratorium on dangerous technologies that threatens humanity, such as geoengineering, GMOs or cellular meat. The promotion of low-cost techniques that increase peasant autonomy and of peasants’ seeds. • The development of public policies to ensure new relationships between those who produce food and those who consume, those who live in rural areas and those who live in urban areas, guaranteeing fair prices defined based on the cost of production, allowing a decent income for all those who produce in the countryside and a fair access to healthy food for the consumers. • Finance for climate adaptation in agriculture – grants not loans • Recognising the existence of climate debt, part of the broader ecological debt linked to colonialism and capitalism. Recognising that people in global South countries that depend on oil and gas exports have their own special needs for a just transition. • Investing in real solutions, not false solutions: this means rejecting carbon off-setting, saying no to carbon markets, and yes to non-market cooperative approaches based on hard and constantly lowering caps on emissions, in order to reach genuine zero.
- 20. In the UK? • Demands for Land Reform and redistribution • Recognise the Right to Food in UK legislation, as well as other socio-economic rights / right to food is much more than food banks or school meals… • Public policies to revitalise the agricultural sector: • More support for agrobiodiversity in UK farms to build genetic resilience; • Support local and regional food systems which reduce emissions related to transport and packaging • Workers' rights in the food and farming sector (minimum wage, housing facilities, visa policies etc.) • Incentivise work and dignified life in the agri-food sector (investment in youth employment and small businesses for agroecological production and localised markets • Public procurement from smallholder and agroecological farmers • Strengthening alternative supply and value chains in local and national food system • Incentivising and strengthening horticulture production in the country
- 21. Taking action in the UK • Challenge the corporate control of the food supply chain in the UK: Get engaged locally and support an alternative way of producing and distributing food: Set up a food cooperative; Join community-supported local agriculture networks, and buy vegetables from local food traders/agroecological farmers ; Forge further alliances / don’t stop being internationalist even during the moments of crisis! • Solidarity actions with the south: • Anti-imperialism: real commitment to the political sovereignty of Global South countries, so that popular struggles for food sovereignty have the space to evolve. • Sign and share petitions in solidarity with workers in the South/ against unfair trade deals/ to cancel the debt in global South countries etc. • Join anti-war movements: Meaningfully take on the task of preventing the Global North from encroaching on the economic and political sovereignty of Global South countries. Such internationalist solidarity can enable the growth of food sovereignty movements in the South. • Info: https://waronwant.org/profiting-hunger/11-conclusion-and-recommendations
- 22. Additional Sources • https://waronwant.org/our-work/food • War on Want Food Sovereignty Report: https://waronwant.org/profiting-hunger/ • On debt and export-oriented sectors in the global South: https://waronwant.org/news-analysis/more-debt-wont-solve-sri- lankas-debt-crisis • Article “The Corporate Capture of Food Systems” on https://waronwant.org/news-analysis/corporate-capture-food- systems • Article “Food Sovereignty: the struggle for a fair global food system” on https://waronwant.org/news-analysis/food- sovereignty-struggle-fair-global-food-system
Editor's Notes
- World hunger is once again on the rise, following the numbers of those experiencing hunger falling between 2009-2013. This trend has now reversed, with global hunger increasing year-on-year: in 2021, more people were affected by hunger than in 2020, which had increased from 2019 Despite a 300 per cent increase in global food production since the mid-1960s, malnutrition is a leading factor contributing to reduced life expectancy. Even in strictly economic terms, what we learned from the 2007–2008 food crisis was that food prices are simultaneously too low for producers and too high for consumers, and prone to fluctuations; The current industrial food system only produces about 30% of the world's food; 75% of the global agricultural land is currently exploited by agribusiness companies that produce export-oriented commodities (e.g., soy and maize) for the industrial animal farming, to produce biofuels as well as food additives that contribute to the ultra-processed food industry. Paradoxically, those who produce the world’s food are the ones who suffer from hunger: moreover, at least half of the family farmers and peasants are women. There is currently a high concentration of power in the food system, which was built on a model of overproduction. The problem of hunger is, in fact, not a problem of scarcity of food or productivity, but a problem of inequality and access to resources, markets and opportunities
- A key issue in debates around transformative visions for the world agrifood system is the question of how to ensure there is enough food to feed the world’s population. There is an assumption that we need the highly productive farming technology of industrial agriculture, and the Green Revolution technology, to ensure enough production. However, this is not the case: there is plenty of food in the world, around 6,000 calories per person if waste is taken into account, when only 3,000 calories need to be grown and produced to sufficiently feed everyone
- Hedge funds and financial speculators have made obscene profits by betting on hunger and exacerbating it. At the start of the Ukraine war, financial investors piled into grains and commodities in large numbers, seeking to capitalise on uncertainty and rising food prices, and they hit the jackpot This is not gold or silver we’re talking about, its people’s daily bread – driving up food prices affects millions and millions of people. It’s a scandal and it shouldn’t be allowed to happen – but deregulation over the past several decades has enabled excessive speculation on food to take place,
- between 21% to 37% of global carbon emissions caused by human activity come from agrifood systems, the predicted greatest future increases in agrifood sector emissions will come from global supply chains, rather than farming itself.
- The last decade – particularly between 2008 and 2018 – has seen corporate mergers consolidate previously separate areas of the agrifood sector under the umbrellas of just a few powerful multinational corporations. Manufacturers of fertilisers and agrochemical formulations, plant breeders, grain traders, and tractor manufacturers are often no longer run as separate businesses. Major corporates such as Bayer and Monsanto have simply become Bayer, and Dow and Dupont are now Corteva Agriscience, while ChemChina has incorporated the global pesticides company Syngenta. Since the pandemic, these corporations have experienced tremendous profits: the ABCDKnown as the ABCD Group because of their initials – Archer Daniels Midland, Bunge, Cargill and Louis Dreyfus – just four corporations have historically influenced the supply and prices of agricultural commodities and, unsurprisingly, have experienced large, surging profits since the Covid-19 pandemic.43 Recently, other new powerful companies have emerged, including China’s COFCO International, second only to Cargill in terms of global market share. Wheat, corn, and soybeans are the three most profitable agricultural raw materials traded worldwide, followed by sugar, palm oil and rice. Other important commodities include fibre, meat, and livestock.
- Since the 2007-2008 world financial crisis, which mainly affected the real estate market, the global financial markets have repurposed their investment portfolios and diversified into new projects. Financial players, such as investment banks, asset management companies, insurance companies and venture capital funds, have now penetrated all sectors of the economy, and the logic of financial markets has been introduced into areas where it was previously absent, such as the agricultural sector. The world’s common goods have been transformed into investment portfolios and opportunities, through derivatives or future contracts, entering the speculation market.76 The futures market in food was originally set up in the mid-20th century to allow producers and anyone in the food chain to make a contract with a dealer and ensure a decent price for the food produced. However, the liberalisation of the futures market 20 years ago means that speculators can now make money by betting on foodstuffs via financial operators who are not in the food chain. Banks are also betting on staple food prices in these unregulated financial markets and earning large profits. Food as a commodity Land as an asset
- The Industrial Food System at a glance. It takes into account the whole process, from growing to disposing food: GROWING: Growers use heavy equipment to prepare soil (with high levels of fossil fuel inputs and agrochemicals), produce on monocrops (often for exports) and in large farms; HARVESTING: farm workers are often employed and harvest great quantities at once; TRANSPORT: Food is transported by air, truck, ships. The transport is divided in different phases and for long haul distribution. PROCESSING: Food processing uses factory equipment to process food and preserve it. Processed food and ultra-processed food are often altered from their natural state. PACKAGING: Workers operate machinery to pack the processed items and in containers for sale. WHOLESALE: Sales and distribution on wholesale level; RETAIL: food is sold to individual consumers, usually in supermarkets, stores and grocery stores. Supermarkets have large power of negotiation on standards of production and prices. EATING: Consumers buy and eat the food DISPOSING: Consumers discard leftover food and packaging. Most of it ends in landfills. Food waste is a growing concern, as a consequence of this system.
- Workers in labour-intensive UK sectors such as horticulture and meat processing face high levels of exploitation and deregulation, particularly in England. Since the abolition of the English Agricultural Wages Board in 2013, the exploitation of foreign workers has increased: farmworkers in England do not have statutory protection for their pay and conditions, whereas Scotland and Wales have retained their agricultural wages boards, and foreign workers in these countries still receive statutory protection. Foreign workers in England are therefore left more exposed to “low wages and poor conditions in a system where markets do not value agricultural workers as vital contributors to our food chain”