Large, concentrated supply chains once yielded short-term production benefits, but now that industrial corporations have a stranglehold on our food system, we are seeing vulnerable supply chains, unfairly compensated farmers and unprecedented farm debt, poorly-paid and badly-treated workers, environmental degradation, poor public health outcomes, and unequal access to affordable, healthy food.
The truth is, industrial agriculture is an economically flawed system that only survives due to two factors:
Industrial agriculture interests intentionally evade the true costs of production, foisting the bill onto other entities. If they accounted for these costs and liabilities, their businesses would no longer be economically viable and they would not be competitive with independent farmers and ranchers.
Industrial agriculture interests would rather spend billions of dollars on lobbyists and myth-based marketing campaigns than alter their wealth-extracting supply chains. The falsehoods they perpetuate persuade consumers and policymakers alike that there is no other option.
This report is a tool to educate policymakers, advocates, and the public about the impact industrial agriculture corporations have on the U.S. food and agriculture system.
Short on time? Try our summary companion guide — an easy-to-read encapsulation of the paper’s main arguments.
This blog series offers a deeper dive into the tall tales that agrifood corporations use to defend their business model.
Working with staff from Duke University’s World Food Policy Center, we developed a three-part series examining this report from different perspectives, which aired on the Leading Voices in Food podcast.
In the first episode, Farm Action’s Dee Laninga talked about how corporations have been able to reshape our food policy landscape by dominating the public narrative. We felt someone had to change the narrative and raise awareness of the harm industrial agriculture does to the farmer, rural communities, and eaters.
What needs to happen before we can see system-wide change? For the second episode of the series, Dr. Kelly Brownell of Leading Voices sat down with Adam Zipkin, Counsel on food policy and agriculture to U.S. Senator Cory Booker, to find out.
Grassroots advocate Monica Brooks is joined by Farm Action’s Sarah Carden for the third and final episode in this series. The pair illustrate the real-world impacts of factory farms — and how to stand up against them. Plus, listeners can learn about alternative models of livestock production that support the farmer AND the community!
Share the truth about industrial agriculture with these downloadable social media graphics.
