Farming mega-mergers threaten food security, say campaigners | Global development | The Guardian
▻https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2016/sep/26/farming-mega-mergers-threaten-food-security-say-campaigners
In a report to be shortly published on the growing concentration of power in the agri-food industry, the International Panel of Experts on Sustainable Food Systems (Ipes) is expected to say that “an unprecedented wave of corporate consolidation is under way”.
“New technology and data-driven synergies could lead to three companies controlling 60% of seeds and 70% of agrochemicals worldwide with still greater oligopoly possible – a historic power shift throughout global agricultural inputs and even greater crop and livestock vulnerability through uniformity,” says an early draft of the report seen by the Guardian.
The consolidation means that each of the big three corporates will also be positioned to access massive banks of genetic data, seen as crucial to companies growing in places like sub-Saharan Africa with burgeoning populations and food shortages.