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[PDF] A Question of Governance: To Protect Agribusiness Profits or the Right to Food?
In November 2009, government delegates and representatives from multilateral organizations and civil society are meeting in Rome for the third international food summit to address rapidly rising numbers of hungry people (the “food crisis”) by coordinating and expanding efforts to eradicate hunger... Are leaders ready to make real progress toward eradicating hunger? At present, the prospects are grim because the solutions promoted in preparatory meetings are muddled and fail to deal with critical issues of unequal power and capacity throughout the global food system...Corporate control over markets has been rising steadily during the past decade…Without multiple buyers and sellers for crops in each sector of the food system, real competition is impossible and small-scale players cannot get fair prices...While hunger and food insecurity are striking more and more people, agribusinesses are using the global political will to find solutions to consolidate their own power...[refers to Wal-Mart, Wilmar International, Cargill, Archer Daniels Midland, DuPont, Monsanto, Syngenta, Limagrain, Westfarmers, LyondellBasell Industries, CHS, Kirin Holdings, Migros, Mosaic Fertilizer Corporation, Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan, Charoen Pokphand Foods, Yara, Nestlé, McDonald’s, George Weston, Unilever, Mars, Kraft Foods, Kroger, Costco Wholesale, Target, Dow Chemical, Bunge, Supervalu, Safeway, PepsiCo, Sysco, Coca-Cola, Deere, Tyson Foods, Publix Supermarkets, Coca-Cola Enterprises, Goldman Sachs]