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Who Owns Our Food? The agricultural commodity giants few of us know

Important explainer on the agrifood monopolies by @thinink.bsky.social
(I recommend subscribing btw, it's a really good newsletter)
news.thin-ink.net/p/who-owns-o...

On a final note, I’m going on a two-week summer break. Back mid-August.

Don’t work too hard. Remember to take a break. And drink lots of water.

The Ugly 🧌👹: “Worst-case scenario of Famine unfolding in the Gaza Strip". The headline said it all.

1 in 3 people are now going for days at a time without eating while malnutrition levels in Gaza City among children under five have quadrupled in two months.

www.ipcinfo.org/fileadmin/us...

OECD-FAO Agricultural Outlook 2025-2034: Emerging economies will drive animal-source food consumption and production New edition examines market trends over the coming decade, with focus on mitigating emissions and boosting food security for the world’s poorest.

The Bad 👎❌😔: There was also the OECD-FAO Agricultural Outlook 2025-2034 which sees higher GHG emissions from agriculture over the next decade, largely due to increases in animal herds and croplands.

www.fao.org/newsroom/det...

The Bad 👎❌😔: #SOFI2025 also showed improvements are not uniform & inequalities increasing, SDGs still elusive, Africa's a hunger hotspot, anaemia is untamed, we’re eating the wrong things & I fear next year's report when Trump's cuts will be taken into account.

openknowledge.fao.org/items/651397...

The Good 😎👌🔥: A much-needed & informative report on how to transform food systems through a systems approach. Whenever I talk about the need to see food as a systems issue, people often say it sounds too complex to put into practice. This report shows how.

openknowledge.fao.org/items/d0095c...

The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly A quartet of food reports highlight where we are

This week, I mourn the passing of David Nabarro, rage at #whatshappeninginMyanmar & look at 4 reports on food.

The Good 😎👌🔥: #SOFI2025 showed global hunger going down, moderate & severe hunger contained, healthy diets now more reachable & stunting's been stunted.

news.thin-ink.net/p/the-good-t...

The have-nots are like the people of Gaza who are suffering unimaginable horrors. Starvation as a strategy is being used in many places around the world, including in my own country, Myanmar, but famine expert Alex de Waal, said it best about what's happening in Gaza.

bsky.app/profile/demo...

This issue is also a story of the haves and the have-nots.

The haves, which I will focus on, refers to some of the world’s most powerful agribusinesses whose dealings are opaque and whose existence is not really registered beyond those focused on food systems.

I got the idea for this week’s issue after recent thoughtful conversations that showed me many people aren’t very familiar with the political economy of our food systems. Hence an explainer on the ABCDs. Special thanks to @jennifer-clapp.bsky.social for her work, which I heavily relied on.

🤐 While 2 out of these 5 are publicly listed (but selective about what they release), 2 are privately-owned (they don’t have to disclose earnings and activities if they don’t want to), and 1 is state-owned (same same but different)?

📈 They are uniquely positioned to benefit from market swings?

𝐂 This coincidence of initials extends to a new entrant that has muscled its way into this cosy gang over the past few years: China’s COFCO Corp?

🌏 If COFCO is included, the share of trade by these four companies goes up to 60%-70%?

Who Owns Our Food? The agricultural commodity giants few of us know

Did you know that..

🌽 4 companies controlled between 50-60% of global trade in essential cereals, oilseed & protein crops in 2022?

🔠 They are known collectively as the ABCDs because of their names: Archer Daniels Midland (ADM), Bunge, Cargill and (Louis) Dreyfus?

news.thin-ink.net/p/who-owns-o...

Kudos to Ben Iuliano, Adam Calo, Maywa Montenegro de Wit and Adam Calo from the Agroecology Research-Action Collective for ending the Enduring Fantasy of “Feeding the World” in Spectre spectrejournal.com/the-enduring...

Congrats, @khetti.bsky.social and @thinink.bsky.social on this excellent piece!

Knives, bullets and thieves: the quest for food in Gaza NPR's Gaza producer faced Israeli military fire, private U.S. contractors pointing laser beams at his forehead and masked thieves as he tried to get food from a U.S.-supported group.

I also suggested three very important reads, one of which is this heartbreaking piece. www.npr.org/2025/07/06/g...

US Imported Food Reliance Worsens: Food Trade Deficit Alert! | Rethink Trade Americans’ reliance on imported food has grown dramatically. The United States had a $58.7 billion food trade deficit by 2024. From 2015 to 2024, the U.S. food trade deficit increased by over $46 bill...

Here's the original Rethink Trade paper: rethinktrade.org/food-deficit/

There's also a bigger picture concern around supply chain resiliency, especially in light of the disruptions we saw in COVID-19, said Katie Hettinga, the analyst who crunched the numbers.

Of course, these concerns will only grow as impacts of climate change on agriculture become more pronounced.

What this issue is about is asking the larger questions behind the number: what's driving it, what are the implications & what impact the current U.S. administration’s flagship policies on food & agri will have on food production & ordinary people. The answer to the last question is: not good.

But this issue isn't about attacking trade. There are v. few countries in the world that can be fully self-sufficient when it comes to food production. We need trade to feed ourselves & each other. Also, despite the political rhetoric, trade deficits don’t mean one side is losing against the other.

Stars, Stripes, & Supply Chains America imports more of its food than we think

Over the past 10 yrs, U.S.'s reliance on imported foods has increased significantly: its purchase of fruits, seafood, vegetables, beverages & cereal preparations now outpace its exports to the tune of $58.7 billion, said an analysis from @rethinktrade.bsky.social.

news.thin-ink.net/p/stars-stri...

Support Global Voices as we launch our donation campaign Sharp cuts to foreign aid by a number of governments are shrinking the available funds for nonprofits, with digital rights organizations like ours taking a particular hit.

🗣️Today we're launching a campaign to raise $250,000 to keep Global Voices alive and thriving.

👉🏿We’re ad-free, paywall-free, and community-powered — but funding cuts and a tough media landscape are putting us at risk.

#KeepGVStrong🌱
globalvoices.org/2025/07/09/s...

4. Also, quite a few of the challenges are self-inflicted. We got ourselves into this mess. We need to get ourselves out of it. Let's get on with that too.
5. There are also opportunities, especially when it comes to lifting our youth, which will ultimately benefit all of us. So...

3. But we also have the diagnosis. We know what is ailing us. We know what needs to change. The report by UNEP & Chatham House very succinctly laid out key barriers to achieving nature-positive food systems that are also fairer and healthier. Let's break them down!

wedocs.unep.org/bitstream/ha...

But that just reinforces a few things.
1. There're lots of important events, reports, & findings that never make it on to the news cycle. Says a lot about the problematic news models we have.
2. The challenges we face are enormous & even the narrow news cycle will be filled with scarier headlines.

A System Under Strain Reports on food, climate, youth & aid show we need to wake up

Despite the headline, this week's issue doesn't actually touch on any of the major headlines like European heat waves or North American floods. Instead, it's on 4 recent reports: food systems transformation, drought, youth in agrifood systems, & UASID's demise.

news.thin-ink.net/p/a-system-u...

Thanks! Just dm-ed you.

Thank you!

Far-right climate delayers to lead Parliament talks on EU’s 2040 target The Patriots for Europe group will be in charge of delicate negotiations on the next emissions-cutting milestone.

The Patriots, a far-right group that opposes the Green Deal, has ended up in charge of parliamentary negotiations on the EU's 2040 climate target. Centrist MEPs are up in arms.

Free to read: www.politico.eu/article/far-...