Let Them Eat Patents
As agrochemical giants and data monopolies consolidate control over seeds, the food system becomes ever more fragile. Humanity has domesticated thousands of crops but, in pursuit of profit, corporations have winnowed that heritage down to a handful.
From seed to fertilizer, from data flows to logistics, the global food system has been consolidated into the hands of a small corporate core. (Jasper Juinen / Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Today roughly 25 percent of the global population works the land. Their grueling labor feeds the remaining 75 percent.
The true magnitude of farmers’ importance reveals itself in moments of crisis. They are a keystone in a fragile global food system. If their work is jeopardized, the consequences will not be abstract.
The world’s food system is not only buckling under the climate crisis, wars, and logistical breakdowns; it is also suffering the long-accumulated structural fractures of the neoliberal agricultural regime. From seed to fertilizer, from data flows to logistics, the entire chain has been consolidated into the hands of an unprecedentedly small corporate core.
Sorry, but this article is available to active subscribers only. Please log in or become a subscriber.