Take the input side. The pace of mergers and acquisitions among corporations that supply seeds and agrochemicals has been torrid. According to the Wall Street Journal, the entire North American seed industry is dominated by just two companies, Dupont and Monsanto. Assuming the consummation of mergers in the works, including Monsanto with the pharmaceutical giant Pharmacia, five corporations will control 68 per cent of the global agrochemical market. These same corporations control almost the entire global market for genetically-engineered seed.
Business logic suggests that greater control in fewer hands increases market share and profits.
Such questions fall outside the business logic. But food is not only a commodity. It is a basic human need and is enshrined internationally as a basic human right. Take a loaf of bread, the most basic food we eat. Meanwhile, agribusiness profits have soared.