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How a small handful of giant transnational corporations has come to dominate the farm inputs sector, why it matters, and what can be done about it. Every year, hundreds of billions of dollars' worth of farm machinery, fertilizers, seeds, and pesticides are sold to farmers around the world. Although agricultural inputs are a huge sector of the global economy, the lion's share of that market is controlled by a relatively small number of very large transnational corporations. The high degree of concentration among these agribusiness titans is striking, considering that just a few hundred years ago agricultural inputs were not even marketed goods. In Clapp reveals that the firms that rose to the top of these sectors benefited from distinct market, technology, and policy advantages dating back a century or more that enabled them to expand their businesses through mergers and acquisitions that made them even bigger and more powerful. These dynamics matter because the firms at the top have long shaped industrial farming practices that, in turn, have generated enormous social, ecological, and health impacts on the planet and the future of food systems. Beyond analyzing how these problems have arisen and manifested, the book examines recent efforts to address corporate power and dominance in food systems and assesses the prospects for change. Among the first works to examine deep roots of corporate power in agriculture,
List of contents
Series Foreword
Preface
List of Acronyms
1 Introduction
Part I: The Rise to Corporate Bigness in the Agricultural Input Industry 1840s–1940s
2 Farm Machinery
3 Fertilizers
4 Seeds
5 Pesticides
Part II: Consolidation and Expansion in the Mid-20th Century
6 Lock-In and Ship Out
7 Mergers of Distress in Farm Machinery and Fertilizers
8 Mergers of Opportunity in Seeds and Chemicals
Part III: 21st Century Mergers and Their Consequences
9 Drivers of Recent Agribusiness Mega-Mergers
10 Power to Shape Markets
11 Power to Shape Technology
12 Power to Shape Policy and Governance
Part IV: Conclusion
13 The Uncertain Path Ahead
Notes
References
Index
About the author
Jennifer Clapp
