Articles

The world's largest meat and dairy corporations emit as much greenhouse gas as entire countries and resist limits using fossil fuel lobby tactics. Data is key to accountability, but progress on reporting remains slow and under threat.

A handful of corporations now shape what kind of fish and seafood reach dinner plates worldwide. The industry has grown more concentrated and industrialised, from Norwegian salmon farms to global supply chains. Aquaculture has surged, yet wild stocks remain under pressure as fleets push further offshore. The shift is changing who profits and at what cost to consumers and the environment.

Access to clean water is a human right since 2010. Yet this vital resource is increasingly coming under corporate control. Across the world, corporations extract groundwater and spring water, selling it in branded bottles at prices that are often many times higher than those of tap water.

Agrochemical corporations export pesticides that are banned in the European Union to countries where safeguards for health and the environment are weak. For BASF, Bayer, Syngenta and others, this is a lucrative business. For many people in the Global South, the consequences are severe.

Seeds form the foundation of our food supply. Yet they are increasingly controlled by a small number of multinational corporations. New genetic engineering techniques are accelerating this trend. Together, these developments are eroding biological diversity and pushing farmers around the world into ever greater dependence.

A small number of global players dominate the trade in animal feed, much of which is produced at the expense of rainforest and savannah clearance and the displacement of Indigenous communities. At the end of these supply chains, soya from corporations such as Cargill ends up in feed troughs on farms across Europe.

How are food prices determined? How are profits distributed along the supply chain? For consumers, this is often quite hard to discern. Scientific studies consistently show that prices are rarely determined by supply and demand alone. Instead, they are shaped by power relations within the food system.

Our food system is exacting a heavy toll on the climate. Green hydrogen for fertilisers, agrofuels, and carbon farming are all touted as ways to reduce or offset emissions. Yet rather than delivering climate neutrality, these technical fixes often create new problems.

GPS sensors, cloud-based systems and artificial intelligence are fundamentally reshaping agriculture. A small number of corporations control the market and are pushing farms into ever greater dependence.

During the 20th century, food systems globally were largely dominated by US multinational corporations and, to a lesser extent, European ones. In recent decades, this landscape has shifted, as Chinese corporations have steadily expanded their influence in agricultural trade and the agrochemical sector. Since many of these corporations are state-owned, their rise reflects not only market dynamics but also a deliberate government strategy.