A group of powerful corporations controls a large share of global agricultural production, input markets, and food supply chains, which threatens food security and rural livelihoods, United Nations human rights experts have warned.
This concentration of power “undermines the autonomy of small farmers, exacerbates inequality, and endangers the ecological foundations of our food systems,” said the experts, who operate under the mandate of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva.

The experts explained that “peasants and small-scale farmers feed most of the world’s population with healthy and diverse foods. Yet they are increasingly marginalized and dispossessed by the expansion of corporate-driven food systems.” “The current agribusiness model, supported by powerful states, prioritizes economic profits over people and the planet. This must change,” the experts added in reports to the UN General Assembly.

The rapporteurs include Canadian jurist Michael Fakhri, Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, and the Working Group on Peasants, chaired by Colombian Carlos Duarte and composed of Geneviève Savigny (France), Shalmali Guttal (India), Uche Ewelukwa Ofodile (Nigeria), and Davit Hakobyan (Armenia).
A report by Fakhri states that “the concentration of corporate power is such that a relatively small group of people determines what and how food is grown, the labour conditions, the prices, and what people eat — with the ultimate aim of maximizing profits rather than serving the public good.” “Many transnational agri-food companies are more focused on selling edible products than on providing real food,” Fakhri added.

The experts warned of corporate practices that have collectively generated “deep dependencies that erode rural resilience and undermine the autonomy of those who sustain our food systems.” Among these are large-scale land acquisitions, monopolization of seeds and agrochemicals, food speculation, exploitative contract farming, and the capture of decision-making spaces traditionally occupied by peasants and rural workers.

They also observed that digital technologies are further reshaping food systems, often expanding corporate control through the appropriation of agricultural data. “These trends, combined with the climate crisis, have further aggravated the threat to the right to food for millions of people,” the experts noted.

To illustrate the concentration of corporate power, the reports provide sectoral data: in seeds and pesticides, four companies — Bayer and Basf (Germany), Corteva (United States), and Syngenta (Switzerland) — control 56% of the global commercial seed market and 61% of the pesticide market. These companies increasingly rely on genetically modified organisms and artificial intelligence to drive seed development.

In fertilizers, five corporations — OCP (Morocco), Mosaic and Nutrien (United States), ICL (Israel), and Sinofert (China) — control 25% of the phosphate market. In agricultural machinery, four companies — Deere and Agco (United States), Kubota (Japan), and CNH Industrial (Netherlands) — hold 43% of the global market and are investing in precision agriculture driven by artificial intelligence.

In veterinary pharmaceuticals, the ten largest companies control 68% of the market, with the top four (Zoetis, Merck, Elanco — all US — and Boehringer, Germany) accounting for nearly 50%.
In poultry genetics, three companies — Tyson Foods (United States), EW Group (Germany), and Hendrix Genetics (Netherlands) — dominate the sector. In the United States, they supply 98% of the genetic material for chickens, and control in Brazil, China, and Africa is similarly high.

According to the UN rapporteurs, corporate power “becomes problematic when companies are able to increase their profits by raising prices (especially for inputs) or lowering wages.”
They added that “companies also take control of material conditions — such as technology, labour standards, processing practices, and food environments — in ways that limit consumer choices.”

In response, “States have the obligation to regulate corporate activities, prevent abuses and human rights violations, and ensure access to justice for victims,” the experts stressed.
Finally, they called on all governments, the private sector, and UN agencies to place small farmers, fishers, herders, and rural workers at the centre of food policy.

See, Un puñado de empresas controla la producción agrícola mundial

Imagen © John Deere