Mega-mergers
of the likes of the £16BN Bayer – Monsanto merger, have left a disturbing mark
in the agribusiness industry, as they continue to threaten people’s rights to
food sovereignty. This has led to consequences such as fears of high costs for
farmers and high food prices for consumers. This in turn has threatened the
peoples’ right to food sovereignty. Here, food sovereignty refers to the view
that food is not a commodity like any other as it is fundamentally essential
for life, thus the main objective of the food system is to provide food to
people in a way that is just and sustainable (Foodsovereignty.org, 2019).In this blog post, I will look more closely at the
relationship between mega-mergers and food sovereignty.
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| Photo by Global Justice Now |
Five
of the six leading global crop protection and seed corporations are currently
involved in mega-mergers (GMWatch.org,
2019). One can already see the potential problems that this has directly on
crop producers, and consumers. These mega-mergers have become very powerful due
to their market shares, to the extent that they are now putting pressures on to
the local farmers to lower their prices and, ultimately lowering their income.
The bargaining power of these mega-mergers has impeded on food sovereignty as
it has meant that many small-scale farmers have been eliminated from farming,
as they are unable to earn a decent living wage.
Marion
Nestle, the Paulette Goddard professor of nutrition, food studies, and public
health at New York University, has dubbed these mergers as ‘monopoly capitalism
in action’ (USA
TODAY, 2019), with just three companies controlling 61% of the world’s
commercial seed sales. This has been due to the concerns of drastic increases
in prices for consumers, as these gigantic mergers seek to obtain higher
profits and gain greater control by eliminating competition within the
agribusiness.
Whilst
it is important that humans have access to safe and healthy foods – mega
mergers such as Dow Chemical and DuPont have been accused of producing pesticides,
which have also had a negative impact on the ecosystem. This comes clear after
Monsanto’s Glyphosate herbicide has been linked to ‘over 40 human diseases,
including cancer’ (laprogessive.com,
2019). This clearly shows how this merger has impeded individuals’ right to
health and safe foods, as well as nurturing a food system that neither respects
the integrity of ecosystems, nor is compatible with nature.
A
majority of third parties such as; antitrust agencies, farmers groups like La
Via Campesina, and governments, have all aimed to forestall the impact of these
mega-mergers through various ways. For instance, governments have introduced a
patent policy, which provided the holder with a temporary monopoly on the use
of a new technology, to prevent charging consumers and farmers high prices,
whilst providing greater incentives to invest in R&D, and ultimately lower
prices for consumers (farmprogress.com,
2019).
One
has to note that antitrust and government policies alike have not always led to
the mega-merger being abandoned. There are times when the merger may be able to
bypass antitrust restrictions by selling plants to other firms, or by liaising
with other firms to license technology to them - thus further impeding the
people’s food sovereignty.
Michelle
Villamarin
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