This tends to cause domestic food prices to increase since the supply of local foods is reduced. The continuing concentration of economic power in the food system is changing who controls our food supply. In Western Europe alone there were 216 mergers and acquisitions in in 1939-95. The world total was 533. Already big companies are getting bigger.
Modern agriculture externalizes costs onto health.
Food is often a major factor in contemporary ill health, certainly in heart disease and food poisonings, but these costs are not reflected in the cost of the UK's so-called cheap food. Shrinking food supplies will cause further hunger, malnutrition, and starvation, especially in poor countries that are already only marginally self-sufficient with respect to food. Food production in the oceans may be reduced by the effects of ultraviolet-B radiation on phytoplankton and by the warming of the ocean water. Back to Top Reflection Cultural factors may contribute to eating disorders such as anorexia nervosa and bulimia. Economic factors seem to be at the root of starvation and malnutrition in the developing world.