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Food Studies: Deconstructing Big Food
http://www.grist.org/food/2011-10-27-food-studies-food-monopoly

grocery aislePhoto: Krystian OlszanskiFood Studies features the voices of 
volunteer student bloggers from a variety of different food- and 
agriculture-related programs at universities around the world. You can 
explore the full series here.

I'm in a food systems class this semester that is focused on the complex way 
that food moves from farm to plate (which in reality looks something more 
like from patented seed, to dirt treated with patented fertilizer, to 
harvesting by undocumented laborers, to processor, to manufacturer, to 
wholesaler, to a grocery store shelf with a paid stocking fee, to consumer, 
to plate). So far, our focus has been on consumer behavior, from the impact 
of food deserts to the ways that psychology and the economics of behavior 
effects food choice. (Did you know that putting out a bowl of multi-colored 
candy can increase consumption by well over 50 percent, compared to candy 
that's a single color, for instance?) As we move on, economist and professor, 
Carolyn Dimitri, is helping us to understand the way that intermediaries like 
wholesalers and distributors factor in to the food chain.

There is a general resistance to analyzing food businesses the way we analyze 
other businesses, not only because food is our most primal need, but it's 
also is fraught with cultural, nutritional, environmental, and political 
debate. At the base of it, though, large food businesses exist for the same 
reason large power companies do: to provide fuel and to make money. Like 
power companies, there are a few large food companies controlling the vast 
majority of the market. Take Coke and Pepsi. Tyson and Cargill. General Mills 
and Kellogg. Monsanto and Monsanto.

The idea of food monopolies isn't new. In 1873, the Supreme Court heard the 
Slaughterhouse Cases, in which a monopoly had been given to Crescent City 
Livestock, a New Orleans slaughterhouse chain. Even then, food safety and 
environmental safety were concerns, as tons of animal waste from the 
slaughter process contaminated local drinking water.

Today, many of these same concerns remain, as huge companies like Smithfield 
dominate the slaughter and meat-packing market. The number of food producers 
(farmers) has been declining in the United States for decades, but it's the 
production and wholesale sector, which turns raw food products into processed 
food, that has been most consolidated.

Here are some reasons that the current food environment makes large food 
monopolies possible, and how we can challenge them.

    Same old, same old. In the United States, federal and state laws make it 
nearly impossible for new, medium-sized meat processing companies to enter 
the market. Everything from the building of the physical space to food 
handling certification needs to be done in accordance with the federal and 
local authorities. In most cases, farmers are forced to have their meat 
processed at large, tech-savvy plants -- even if they are miles away from 
their farm. Mobile meat processing, which was only recently approved by the 
USDA, is one way to connect certified processors with smaller scale farmers 
for convenient, safe meat production.

    Keep the technological playing field uneven. Corporations like Monsanto 
and Nabisco fund huge research projects at universities, which help them gain 
and maintain the most up-to-date science. By better funding sustainable food 
research at universities worldwide, we can ensure that science that promotes 
sustainability takes priority over science that promotes profits for 
processors and input suppliers.

    Let processors pay to play. There is no scarcer resource in a supermarket 
than shelf space. New products essentially can't access shelf space unless an 
old product falls off. Thus the "slotting fee" which wealthy processors pay 
to supermarkets to gain or maintain access to premium shelf space. This 
system actually encourages mergers between organic and conventional farms, so 
that organic farms can rely on wide distribution channels to gain access to 
shelf space. By putting an end to paid real estate for processed foods, we 
can open space from produce bought directly from farmers.

    Keep the middle men around. While intermediaries add value to raw food 
products by storing them, transporting them efficiently, labeling them, and 
distributing them, they also seek out the lowest prices possible for goods. 
By buying directly from farmers, and going to restaurants that do the same, 
we put money in the pockets of farmers and not in those of huge wholesalers 
and processors.