Agribusiness

The world faces its fourth wave of global food price crises in just 20 years. This atlas not only documents the damaging impacts of corporate power within the food system but also highlights practical alternatives and successful efforts to curb corporate dominance and guarantee access to healthy, affordable food.

Food is essential for survival. Yet, corporate power and the climate crisis are jeopardising our food system. Discover in 12 concise lessons how a handful of corporations dominate markets and how a fair food policy can be achieved.

Today, just a handful of corporations determine what is grown in our fields, what ends up on supermarket shelves, and ultimately what we eat. This concentration of market power did not emerge overnight

Corporations and their lobby groups often enjoy privileged access to European and national policymakers. In terms of budget, the number of lobbyists, and meetings with officials, they greatly outnumber trade unions and civil society organisations which defend the public interest.

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.