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Corporate Takeover of the Global Food System Should Not Get UN Approval
The U.N. should address issues such as land concentration, so that peasant agroecology can have a real chance to flourish and make a significant contribution to tackling hunger, climate change, and biodiversity loss.
Jul 23, 2023
A U.N. summit on global food systems should be an opportunity to address structural inequalities and tackle hunger. It should be a chance to learn from small-scale producers whose sustainable food practices feed 70% of the world. Instead, next week’s conference in Rome will be a festival of greenwashing, allowing Big Agriculture corporations to tighten their grip on food systems.
This will be the second Food Systems Summit (UNFSS). The first, in 2021 was supposed to address the lack of progress towards the U.N.’s sustainable development goals. It was dubbed a “people’s summit” by the organizers, but caused an outcry among local producers when their calls to roll back the power of transnational corporations were cynically ignored.
Corporations that dominate global food systems, such as Bayer and Nestlé, used the summit to promote greenwashing initiatives rather than address pressing problems such as food speculation and the impact of Covid-19 on world hunger.
The U.N.’s special rapporteur on the right to food Michael Fakhri described it as “inviting the fox right into the henhouse.”
Discussions on eradicating hunger were hosted by the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN), a foundation partly funded by processed food and consumer goods giant Unilever, while transnational corporations were invited to discuss solutions to problems they had largely created. The whole event was an excellent opportunity for them to identify new profit-making ventures and to “capture the global narrative of ‘food systems transformation.’”
More than a thousand small-scale food producer associations and Indigenous Peoples’ groups, academics, and social movements boycotted the event, which was also widely criticized by U.N/ human rights experts and others.
The U.N.’s special rapporteur on the right to food Michael Fakhri described it as “inviting the fox right into the henhouse.”
Agribusiness vs Small Farmers
Food is a common good and access to healthy and nutritious food is a basic human right enshrined in U.N. covenants. These are the issues that governments and the U.N. should focus resources on, and next week’s summit provided a perfect opportunity.
Sadly, it looks set to simply consolidate corporate control over food and natural resources.
Hundreds of grassroots groups have called out the U.N., saying they are still being excluded and claiming the summit is “poised to repeat the failures” of two years ago and want to see fundamental change in food systems.
Here’s the picture as it stands. A handful of agribusinesses control more than 70% of the world’s farmland. Smallholder farmers, fisherfolk, pastoralists, and Indigenous peoples, who use agroecology and other sustainable practices, feed 70% of the world’s population with just 10% of global farmland.
In just the last five years, the world’s nine largest fertilizer companies—with nearly 40% of global synthetic fertilizer sales— have tripled their profits.
Agriculture is responsible for nearly 40% of global greenhouse gas emissions, almost 90% of deforestation, and 80% of biodiversity loss, the bulk of which can be attributed to industrial agriculture and agribusiness operations.
The disruption of global fertilizer supply chains has been a major focus of the U.N.’s response to the global food crisis. But the dangers of market concentration, which make food systems extremely fragile to shocks, have been largely ignored.
In just the last five years, the world’s nine largest fertilizer companies—with nearly 40% of global synthetic fertilizer sales— have tripled their profits. Rocketing fertilizer prices have less to do with disrupted supply chains than quasi-monopolies.
Despite all this—and the growing global obesity pandemic, for which consumption of ultra-processed industrial food bears a major responsibility—the U.N. continues to empower corporations. What it should be doing is addressing issues such as land concentration, so that peasant agroecology can have a real chance to flourish and make a significant contribution to tackling hunger, climate change, and biodiversity loss.
Industrial Agriculture Has Failed
A dystopian future where a handful of corporations control everything we eat is just around the corner, if we do not resist now.
About 60% of all calories consumed worldwide come from just four crops: rice, wheat, corn, and soy. Everyone is vulnerable if we are over-dependent on global corporate-controlled supply chains. Industrial agriculture has failed to address rising levels of hunger and malnutrition across the world, which are now at an estimated 828 million people.
We are facing a stark choice between unsustainable, exploitative, corporate-controlled food systems and diverse, locally sourced ecological food.
The global governance of food is being hijacked by corporate interests. The U.N.’s Food and Agriculture Organization receives less than a third of its $3.25bn budget from the world’s governments, making it dependent on “voluntary contributions”—including from corporations and their proxies—for the rest.
We are facing a stark choice between unsustainable, exploitative, corporate-controlled food systems and diverse, locally sourced ecological food that prioritises the needs and rights of those most affected by the hunger, climate, and health crises.
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'The Real Americone Dream': Ben & Jerry's Scoopers Organizing for a Union
"Our goal in this action is to create a better-working and equal partnership between our community and yours," organizers at the flagship store wrote to the ice cream giant's corporate leaders.
Apr 17, 2023
Ben & Jerry's workers at the ice cream company's flagship shop in Burlington, Vermont on Monday filed for a union election amid a wave of organizing efforts at Amazon, Apple, REI, Starbucks, Trader Joe's, and other major employers across the United States.
Organizers in Burlington are calling themselves Scoopers United and are backed by Workers United, a Service Employees International Union affiliate that has gained national attention for winning union votes at 300 U.S. Starbucks stores since late 2021.
"Our goal in this action is to create a better-working and equal partnership between our community and yours," Scoopers United organizers wrote Sunday to company leaders and co-founders Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield, who started the business in 1978.
\u201cWelcome, @ScoopersUnited, to our growing union! We call on Ben and Jerry\u2019s to recognize the union today and begin good faith bargaining with these workers!\u201d— Workers United (@Workers United) 1681743393
The multinational Unilever acquired Ben & Jerry's in 2000. The parent company has not commented on the Burlington effort but its website says that "workers are able to form and/or join trade unions of their choice, and to bargain collectively," and around 80% of the company's total workforce is covered by independent trade unions or collective bargaining agreements.
Both the co-founders and Ben & Jerry's, as a company, have a long history of activism. The ice cream giant's site states that "we seek in all we do, at every level of our business, to advance human rights and dignity, support social and economic justice for historically marginalized communities, and protect and restore the Earth's natural systems."
Scoopers United wrote that "we have seen the positive impact of community within our scoop shop. The support and comradery this store has cultivated are rare and unique. Collectively, we have come to embody Ben & Jerry's slogan of 'peace, love, and ice cream.'"
"We are taught from the beginning of our employment that equality and justice are integral rights of ours as people," organizers continued. "Despite record-breaking profits, incredible bounce-backs post-pandemic, and unwavering smiles, our staff is exploited within our work environment."
According toThe Washington Post:
The workers' push to unionize began around April 3, the annual Free Cone Day, when the company gives away free scoops of ice cream. According tounion organizers, management took away the tip jar that day.
Ben & Jerry's later returned it after workers protested, the organizers said. But the move to unionize quickly caught on throughout the store. In Burlington, organizers said all 37 scoopers have pledged their support. That's well above the typical threshold in the United States, where at least 30% of eligible employees must sign on to qualify for a federally recognized union election.
Union leaders said their primary motivation is to have a seat at the table with management. Also at issue is management's handling of multiple instances of drug use in the store bathroom, including an overdose last summer, as well as adding job duties without increasing pay, workers say.
"Workers need a voice on issues that affect us. Forming a union will ensure that present and future scoopers have irrefutable rights. To this end, we want to acknowledge the efforts made by current management. The work you have done has not gone unnoticed and provides us hope for future cooperation where we can collaborate as equals," organizers wrote, asking Ben & Jerry's leaders to recognize their right to unionize and sign a dozen fair election principles.
Rebeka Mendelsohn, a 22-year-old shift manager and University of Vermont student, said in a statement that "we're a company that stands for social justice rights and equity, and I want to ensure that this message is translated to all levels of employment."
Mendelsohn told the Post that she wanted to work for the company because of its commitment to social issues such as defending Black Lives Matter and environmental justice. Mendelsohn, who is Jewish, added that she was proud when Ben & Jerry's sued Unilever last year to block ice cream sales in Israeli-occupied West Bank territories—a dispute that was resolved confidentially.
"In the grand scheme of things, my employer is working toward something bigger," Mendelsohn said. "And I see such a potential for a union for employees and staff."
Other organizers and labor rights supporters across the country expressed solidarity with the Burlington workers' push to establish the first union at a Ben & Jerry's shop.
\u201cGo follow our friends @ScoopersUnited who are organizing @benjerry's in Burlington, VT! Solidarity!\u201d— Starbucks Workers United (@Starbucks Workers United) 1681730747
"ICE CREAM UNION," tweeted People for Bernie, sharing the organizers' letter.
Referencing one of the ice cream company's famous flavors, the Fight for $15 campaign declared that a "new Ben & Jerry's union is the real Americone Dream."
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New Report Reveals How Plastic Polluters Have Avoided Regulation Worldwide for Decades
"This report is a damning exposé of the tactics employed by the plastics industry and shines a welcome light on the shadowy world of corporate lobbying."
Sep 17, 2020
Analysis released Thursday of the world's top 10 biggest plastic polluters in 15 countries reveals how major corporations hide behind the veneer of corporate responsibility while actively working to thwart regulatory legislation around the globe.
"This report is a damning expose of the tactics employed by the plastics industry and shines a welcome light on the shadowy world of corporate lobbying," Natalie Fee, founder of City to Sea, which supported the research conducted by the Changing Markets Foundation, said in a statement.
"For too long," said Fee, "the true cost of plastic production has been externalized, meaning plastic producers continue to get away with ecocide while waste management companies, consumers and marginalized communities around the world are left to deal with millions of tons of toxic plastic waste."
\u201cOut now! \ud83d\udce2 Our ground-breaking new report reveals the hypocrisy of the world\u2019s biggest #plasticpolluters, who claim to be tackling the plastic crisis while actually fighting legislation behind closed doors #TalkingTrash https://t.co/p2CJDQhhFR\u201d— Changing Markets Foundation (@Changing Markets Foundation) 1600326412
The report--titled "Talking Trash: The Corporate Playbook of False Solutions,"--exposes how Coca-Cola, Colgate-Palmolive, Danone, Mars Incorporated, Mondelez International, Nestle, PepsiCo, Perfetti Van Melle, Procter & Gamble, and Unilever deploy "tactics to undermine legislation in individual countries are in fact part of a global approach by Big Plastic to ensure that the corporations most responsible for the plastic crisis evade true accountability for their pollution."
According to Changing Markets Foundation Thursday, the investigations found:
- Big Plastic is a well-organized network of organizations that fight against proven solutions to the plastic pollution crisis through similar tactics across the world
- Voluntary commitments and group initiatives from the ten biggest plastic polluters are used to distract consumers and governments, enabling polluters to continue with business as usual
- Corporations work behind the scenes to delay and derail legislation and ensure they can continue flooding the world with cheap, disposable plastic packaging
- Plastic producers have co-opted the Covid-19 pandemic and capitalized on people's fear to call for regulatory rollbacks and delays on environmental legislation
\u201cDELAY, DISTRACT and DERAIL: 3 tactics that help Big Plastic fight plastic legislation behind the scenes across the world. New report by @ChangingMarkets out today #TalkingTrash https://t.co/Kq35HJYtC6\u201d— GAIA is at #COP27 for #ZeroWaste (@GAIA is at #COP27 for #ZeroWaste) 1600326036
"This report exposes the two-faced hypocrisy of plastic polluters, which claim to be committed to solutions, but at the same time use a host of dirty tricks to ensure that they can continue pumping out cheap, disposable plastic, polluting the planet at a devastating rate," said Nusa Urbanic, campaigns director for the Changing Markets.
"Plastic is now pouring into the natural world at a rate of one garbage truck a minute, creating a crisis for wildlife, the climate and public health," Urbanic continued. "The responsibility for this disaster lies with Big Plastic--including major household brands--which have lobbied against progressive legislation for decades, greenwashed their environmental credentials, and blamed the public for littering, rather than assuming responsibility for their own actions."
Big Plastic jumped at the opportunity presented by the Covid-19 pandemic--which has caused a surge in single-use plastic consumption--to pressure lawmakers to roll back current regulations and prevent new ones, according to the report.
Additionally, Changing Markets noted that plastic pollution has devastating effects on the environment and is a key contributor to the climate crisis.
According to the group:
"The plastic pollution crisis is a deeply interconnected climate crisis, a biodiversity crisis, and a public health crisis all combined... Plastic saturates almost every surface of the planet--from the deepest abysses to the highest mountains and remotest islands--causing an unprecedented crisis for wildlife... Virgin-plastic production is a major contributor to climate change, generating enough emissions--from the moment they leave the ground as fossil fuels, and throughout their entire life cycle--to use up 10 to 15% of our entire carbon budget by 2050 at current rates of growth. Disposal of plastics through incineration and backyard burning also contributes to climate change and creates a toxic fallout undermining human and planetary health."
The industry's contribution to the global climate emergency is nothing new, but progressive legislators continue to face an uphill battle when it comes to regulating these powerful corporations.
President Donald Trump, for example, has called climate change a "hoax," and, despite pleas from environmental advocacy groups and progressive lawmakers, many Democratic lawmakers, including House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.)--as well as presidential nominee Joe Biden--still do not support the Green New Deal.
\u201cAmount of federal government subsidies given to the fossil fuel industry every year: $15 billion.\n\nThe amount it should be, immediately: $0.\n\nIt's time to end fossil fuel subsidies and enact the Green New Deal. https://t.co/F075fNHSJt\u201d— Bernie Sanders (@Bernie Sanders) 1600284448
Urbanic urged lawmakers to act to protect the planet.
"The voluntary initiatives and commitments by the industry have failed," she said in a statement. "Policymakers should look past the industry smokescreen and adopt proven, progressive legislation globally to create the systemic change that this crisis so urgently needs."
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