The problem with growing corporate concentration and power in the global food system
Abstract
What are the potential consequences when a relatively small number of large firms come to dominate markets within the global food system? This Perspective examines the implications of corporate concentration and power in the global seed and agrochemical industry, a sector that has become more consolidated in recent years. It outlines the pathways via which concentrated firms in this sector have the potential to exert power in food systems more broadly-both directly and indirectly-in ways that matter for food system outcomes. Specifically, concentrated firms can shape markets, shape technology and innovation agendas, and shape policy and governance frameworks. This Perspective makes the case that a range of measures are needed to ensure that corporate concentration and power do not undermine key goals for food systems, such as equitable livelihoods, sustainability and broad-based participation in food system governance. These include measures to strengthen competition policies, to bolster public sector support for diverse food systems, and to curb corporate influence in the policy process.
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A growing body of research documents a high degree of corporate concentration all along global agrifood supply chains.
“A growing body of research documents a high degree of corporate concentration all along global agrifood supply chains (e.g., ETC Group 2022; Clapp 2021; IPES-Food 2017; Hendrickson et al. 2020; Howard 2016; Deconinck 2021; Crespi and MacDonald 2022; Sexton and Xia 2018; Slater et al. 2024).”
From Corporate concentration and power matter for agency in food systems (2025) · cites this paper as Clapp 2021
Farmers' decisions to adopt GM crops hinge on the expected profits of adoption and the associated risks, the availability of the technology and its alternatives, marketing exposure, and farm characteristics including farm size and farmer education level.
“farmers' decisions to adopt GM crops hinge on the expected profits of adoption and the associated risks ( 31 ), the availability of the technology and its alternatives, marketing exposure ( 32 ) and farm characteristics including farm size and farmer education level ( 33 ).”
From Environmental impacts of genetically modified crops (2024) · cites this paper as [33]
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“Researchers in this field have argued for implementing strategies to curb corporate influence, such as competition policies that account for the impacts of market concentration and measures to strengthen transparency and deprioritize profit making over the right to food (Clapp, 2021).”
BackgroundInfluentialGao, J., Wang, S., Erdoğdu, F., Marra, F., Sarghini, F., & Chen, L. (2025) · Trends in Food Science & Technology · doi:10.1016/j.tifs.2025.105204 · Cited by 47 · see citing works
An analysis of the transformative potential of major food system report recommendations
Slater, S., Baker, P., & Lawrence, M. A. (2022) · Global Food Security · doi:10.1016/j.gfs.2022.100610 · Cited by 47 · see citing works
“The importance of actions targeting power asymmetries and the corporate concentration of power are highlighted by the potential they have to significantly impact the dynamics of the system, particularly the systems key goals and values (Clapp 2021), which in the current political and economic climate, can lead to chan…”
BackgroundMapping lock-ins and enabling environments for agri-food sustainability transitions in Europe
Williams, T. G., Bürgi, M., Debonne, N., Diogo, V., Helfenstein, J., Levers, C., Mohr, F., Stratton, A. E., & Verburg, P. H. (2024) · Sustainability Science · doi:10.1007/s11625-024-01480-y · Cited by 47 · see citing works
“…setting prices and creating contracts that incentivise or require specific farming practices and/or quality standards (Dewick and Foster 2018; Dries et al. 2004; Rossi et al. 2019), or the seed and chemical sector using public relations to shape narratives about agri-culture (Clapp 2021).”
BackgroundBarriers to evidence use for sustainability: Insights from pesticide policy and practice
Hofmann, B., Ingold, K., Stamm, C., Ammann, P., Eggen, R., Finger, R., Fuhrimann, S., Lienert, J., Mark, J., McCallum, C., et al. (2022) · Ambio · doi:10.1007/s13280-022-01790-4 · Cited by 39 · see citing works
“In the policy arena [3a], the observed cross-country differences in banned pesticides (e.g., between the US and EU countries) (Donley 2019; Clapp 2021a; Rohr 2021) reflect influential actors’ interests.”
BackgroundBeyond the Genome: Genetically Modified Crops in Africa and the Implications for Genome Editing
Rock, J. S., Schnurr, M. A., Kingiri, A. N., Glover, D., Stone, G. D., Ely, A., & Fischer, K. (2023) · Development and Change · doi:10.1111/dech.12750 · Cited by 47 · see citing works
Striełkowski, W., Самойлікова, А., Smutka, Ľ., Civín, L., & Lieonov, S. (2022) · Journal of Innovation & Knowledge · doi:10.1016/j.jik.2022.100271 · Cited by 42 · see citing works
Williams, T. G., Bui, S., Conti, C., Debonne, N., Levers, C., Swart, R., & Verburg, P. H. (2023) · Global Environmental Change · doi:10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2023.102746 · Cited by 43 · see citing works
Donner, M., Mamès, M., & de Vries, H. (2024) · Discover Sustainability · doi:10.1007/s43621-024-00648-x · Cited by 50 · see citing works
Innovation and technology for achieving resilient and inclusive rural transformation
Lidder, P., Cattaneo, A., & Chaya, M. (2025) · Global Food Security · doi:10.1016/j.gfs.2025.100827 · Cited by 39 · see citing works
“High-tech and relatively high-cost proprietary technologies create technological ‘lock-ins ’ with negative environmental and social consequences (Clapp, 2021).”
New geographical directions for food systems governance research
Yap, C. (2022) · Progress in Human Geography · doi:10.1177/03091325221133808 · Cited by 37 · see citing works
“Scholarship in this area has identified, for instance, the governance challenged posed by concentrated corporate power within the food system (Clapp, 2021).”
BackgroundLarge gaps in voluntary sustainability commitments covering the global cocoa trade
Parra-Paitan, C., zu Ermgassen, E. K. H. J., Meyfroidt, P., & Verburg, P. H. (2023) · Global Environmental Change · doi:10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2023.102696 · Cited by 41 · see citing works
Defining barriers to food systems sustainability: a novel conceptual framework
Even, B., Thai, H. T. M., Pham, H. T. M., & Béné, C. (2024) · Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems · doi:10.3389/fsufs.2024.1453999 · Cited by 43 · see citing works
The State of US Farm Operator Livelihoods
Burchfield, E., Schumacher, B. L., Spangler, K., & Rissing, A. (2022) · Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems · doi:10.3389/fsufs.2021.795901 · Cited by 36 · see citing works
Lowder, S. K., Bhalla, G., & Davis, B. (2025) · Global Food Security · doi:10.1016/j.gfs.2025.100854 · Cited by 47 · see citing works
Progress towards sustainable agriculture hampered by siloed scientific discourses
Fischer, K., Vico, G., Röcklinsberg, H., Liljenström, H., & Bommarco, R. (2024) · Nature Sustainability · doi:10.1038/s41893-024-01474-9 · Cited by 35 · see citing works
“We acknowledge that there are broader and alternative definitions of both AE and SI beyond the research analysed here, as well as additional ideas in the rich and animated debate on the future of agriculture 10,35,38–40 that also go beyond the sphere of academia 41 , which we focused on.”
Glaros, A., Thomas, D. C., Nost, E., Nelson, E., & Schumilas, T. (2023) · Frontiers in Sustainability · doi:10.3389/frsus.2023.1073873 · Cited by 39 · see citing works
“More broadly, concentration in agri-food markets affords single private firms greater control over market dynamics, technology and innovation pathways, and policy agendas (Clapp, 2021).”
BackgroundTrust and responsibility in food systems transformation. Engaging with Big Food: marriage or mirage?
Yates, J., Gillespie, S., Savona, N., Deeney, M., & Kadiyala, S. (2021) · BMJ Global Health · doi:10.1136/bmjgh-2021-007350 · Cited by 32 · see citing works
Understanding deforestation lock-in: Insights from Land Reform settlements in the Brazilian Amazon
Russo Lopes, G., & Bastos Lima, M. G. (2022) · Frontiers in Forests and Global Change · doi:10.3389/ffgc.2022.951290 · Cited by 31 · see citing works
“Core companies thereby have not only strengthened their dominance but also promoted the growth of such industrial agri-food systems that result, among others, in agricultural expansion over tropical ecosystems (McMichael, 2012; Clapp, 2021; Pendrill et al., 2022).”
BackgroundMobilising critical international political economy for the age of climate breakdown
Babić, M., & Sharma, S. E. (2023) · New Political Economy · doi:10.1080/13563467.2023.2184468 · Cited by 31 · see citing works
Omar, A. H., & Thorsøe, M. H. (2023) · Agriculture and Human Values · doi:10.1007/s10460-023-10508-5 · Cited by 32 · see citing works
“The more concentrated an agribusiness sector becomes – whether that’s seed, fertilizer, pesticide, food processing, distribution, and retail – the greater the control exercised by its firms over wages, prices, availability of products, and policymaking (Clapp 2021; Dörr 2018).”
Smallholder value creation in agrifood chains: Value network approach
Schoneveld, G. C., & Weng, X. (2023) · Land Use Policy · doi:10.1016/j.landusepol.2023.106676 · Cited by 37 · see citing works
“Instead, the agrifood sector is becoming more concentrated (Clapp, 2021), with agribusinesses increasingly competing with smallholders for land and resources (Schoneveld, 2014).”
Béné, C., & Lundy, M. (2023) · Frontiers in Sustainability · doi:10.3389/frsus.2023.1098011 · Cited by 29 · see citing works
“Finally, although the constellation of actors involved on both sides of the debate is large and diversified—including experts and academics, policy-makers, civil society, as well as private sector (from small local artisanal enterprises or even start-ups to multibillion dollar agri-food TNCs)—we propose to focus our a…”
BackgroundInfluentialSeed systems development to navigate multiple expectations in Ethiopia, Malawi and Tanzania
Haug, R., Hella, J., Mulesa, T. H., Kakwera, M. N., & Westengen, O. T. (2023) · World Development Sustainability · doi:10.1016/j.wds.2023.100092 · Cited by 28 · see citing works
Clay, P. M., Feeney, R., & Sellare, J. (2024) · Food Policy · doi:10.1016/j.foodpol.2024.102684 · Cited by 28 · see citing works
Ceddia, M. G., Boillat, S., & Jacobi, J. (2024) · The Lancet Planetary Health · doi:10.1016/s2542-5196(24)00234-1 · Cited by 33 · see citing works
Framing just transition: The case of sustainable food system transition in Finland
Huttunen, S., Tykkyläinen, R., Kaljonen, M., Kortetmäki, T., & Paloviita, A. (2024) · Environmental Policy and Governance · doi:10.1002/eet.2096 · Cited by 26 · see citing works
Vilas-Boas, J., Klerkx, L., & Lie, R. (2021) · Journal of Rural Studies · doi:10.1016/j.jrurstud.2021.11.025 · Cited by 28 · see citing works
The Political Economy of Food System Transformation
Resnick, D., & Swinnen, D. R. J. (2023) · doi:10.1093/oso/9780198882121.001.0001 · Cited by 29 · see citing works
Participatory future visions of collaborative agroecological farmer-pastoralist systems in Tanzania
Johansson, E., Martin, R., & Mapunda, K. M. (2023) · Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems · doi:10.1080/21683565.2023.2165592 · Cited by 25 · see citing works
“Clapp (2021) highlights the need for policy interventions that minimize growing corporate concentration and power in food systems, which instead motivate the public sector to support diverse food systems.”
BackgroundInnovations for pesticide application must consider environmental impact
Dalhaus, T., Finger, R., Tzachor, A., & Möhring, N. (2024) · Nature Food · doi:10.1038/s43016-024-01080-0 · Cited by 25 · see citing works
Allegretti, A., & Hicks, C. C. (2022) · Reviews in Fish Biology and Fisheries · doi:10.1007/s11160-022-09743-6 · Cited by 25 · see citing works
“…South have suffered a fundamental lack of influence in decision-making power within the increasing corporatization of the global food industry focused on profit and spearheaded by a small number of transnational corporate firms (Clapp 2021) and creating a dependence on food import (Clapp 2009).”
BackgroundKeegan, S., Reis, K., Roiko, A. H., & Desha, C. (2023) · Food Security · doi:10.1007/s12571-023-01418-9 · Cited by 24 · see citing works
“Increasingly concentrated corporate power across food industries has favoured the growth of long, complex supply chains, often to the detriment of smaller farming or food retail businesses (Carey et al., 2020; Pulker et al., 2018) and the traditional food cultures of populations (Clapp, 2021).”
Climate Data Practices: A Research Approach for HCI and Climate Justice
Soden, R., Agrawaal, T. S., Lord, A., Chanen, C., Flawn, L., Seaifan, Z., Classens, M., & Easterbrook, S. (2025) · ACM Transactions on Computer-Human Interaction · doi:10.1145/3719346 · Cited by 24 · see citing works
“This is operationalized through genetic narrowing and the enclosure of seed germplasm, through which exclusive property rights are afforded to an ever-more concentrated number of global seed corporations [23].”
Carrad, A., Aguirre‐Bielschowsky, I., Rose, N., Charlton, K. E., & Reeve, B. H. (2022) · Health Promotion Journal of Australia · doi:10.1002/hpja.626 · Cited by 23 · see citing works
Mapping actor networks in global multi-stakeholder initiatives for food system transformation
Akker, A. V. D., Fabbri, A., Slater, S., Gilmore, A., Knai, C., & Rutter, H. (2024) · Food Security · doi:10.1007/s12571-024-01476-7 · Cited by 25 · see citing works
“…platforms, the 2021 United Nations Food Systems Summit (UNFSS) faced significant criticism over its central inclusion of transnational corporations, failure to acknowledge power asymmetries and exclusion of indigenous and civil society groups (Canfield et al., 2021; Clapp et al., 2021).”
InfluentialPeng, B., Zhao, Y., Elahi, E., & Wan, A. (2022) · Energy · doi:10.1016/j.energy.2022.126280 · Cited by 21 · see citing works
Civil society engagement in food systems governance in Canada: Experiences, gaps, and possibilities
Levkoe, C. Z., Andrée, P., Ballamingie, P., Tasala, K., Wilson, A. D., & Korzun, M. (2023) · Journal of Agriculture Food Systems and Community Development · doi:10.5304/jafscd.2023.122.005 · Cited by 21 · see citing works
Re-imagining the UN Committee on World Food Security
Guttal, S. (2021) · Development · doi:10.1057/s41301-021-00322-z · Cited by 21 · see citing works
“…corporations exercise a high degree of influence within and over the global food system, powered by mergers and acquisitions of one another ‘to form giant ‘mega-companies’ that are central players in what can only be described as a profound reconfiguration of the world food economy’ (Clapp 2021).”
BackgroundPettinger, C., Hunt, L., Gardiner, H., Garg, P., Howard, L., & Wagstaff, C. (2023) · Proceedings of The Nutrition Society · doi:10.1017/s0029665123004913 · Cited by 20 · see citing works
Smart technology for public health: reshaping the future of food safety
Liberty, J. T., Bromage, S., Peter, E., Ihedioha, O. C., Alsalman, F. B., & Odogwu, T. S. (2025) · Food Control · doi:10.1016/j.foodcont.2025.111378 · Cited by 25 · see citing works
Chamanara, S., Goldstein, B. P., & Newell, J. P. (2023) · Supply Chain Management An International Journal · doi:10.1108/scm-02-2022-0068 · Cited by 20 · see citing works
Cobalt: corporate concentration 1975–2018
Ericsson, M., Löf, A., Löf, O., & Müller, D. B. (2023) · Mineral Economics · doi:10.1007/s13563-023-00391-1 · Cited by 20 · see citing works
“Similar aspects of the global food system have recently been studied by Jennifer Clapp (2021) and in an earlier paper also the extractive industries are mentioned (Clapp and Purugganan 2020).”
BackgroundUnderstanding and Addressing Disaster Risk
Wisner, B., Alcántara-Ayala, I., Gaillard, J., Kelman, I., & Marchezini, V. (2025) · Routledge eBooks · doi:10.4324/9781003292814 · Cited by 20 · see citing works
Shaw, R., & Soma, T. (2022) · Frontiers in Communication · doi:10.3389/fcomm.2022.1007567 · Cited by 19 · see citing works
“In essence, the claim that “whatever is good in space is good for Earth” is disconnected from the reality of food injustice, the impact of colonial imperialism and growing corporate power on Earth (Clapp, 2021) and the problem of worldview.”
BackgroundNelson, K. S., & Burchfield, E. (2023) · Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems · doi:10.3389/fsufs.2023.1081079 · Cited by 18 · see citing works
“Similarly, access to specific equipment or inputs can support production outcomes while constraining on-farm cultivation possibilities (Vanloqueren and Baret, 2009; Rissing, 2016; Clapp, 2021).”
BackgroundDeveloping the agroecological niche in Nicaragua: The roles of knowledge flows and intermediaries
Schiller, K., Klerkx, L., Centeno, D. J. S., & Poortvliet, P. M. (2023) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.2206195120 · Cited by 18 · see citing works
McMichael, P. (2021) · Development · doi:10.1057/s41301-021-00304-1 · Cited by 18 · see citing works
Research needs for a food system transition
McDermid, S., Hayek, M., Jamieson, D. W., Hale, G. B., & Kanter, D. (2023) · Climatic Change · doi:10.1007/s10584-023-03507-2 · Cited by 18 · see citing works
“…pathways to meet food system target scenarios is important as well, and these will in large part almost certainly depend on the status and influence of power structures embedded with the food system (Clapp 2018, 2021) that govern and constrain its political ecologies across space and time.”
BackgroundReclaiming Diverse Seed Commons Through Food Sovereignty, Agroecology and Economies of Care
Pimbert, M. P. (2022) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-030-89405-4_2 · Cited by 17 · see citing works
“Such transformations demand decisive public intervention by states to limit the disproportionate power of a handful of corporations in the governance of seeds (Clapp, 2021) and the global food system (Canfield et al.”
BackgroundPolitics of Seed in Ethiopia's Agricultural Transformation: Pathways to Seed System Development
Mulesa, T. H. (2021) · Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems · doi:10.3389/fsufs.2021.742001 · Cited by 16 · see citing works
“The IPR protection has given more power to the private sector in the seed industry to make independent decisions on what to invest in and the type of technology they can promote (Kuyek, 2007; Clapp, 2021).”
BackgroundTschersich, J., Sievers-Glotzbach, S., Gmeiner, N., & Kliem, L. (2022) · Journal of Rural Studies · doi:10.1016/j.jrurstud.2022.12.005 · Cited by 16 · see citing works
Wilkinson, T. J., Nye, C., Lobley, M., West, H. G., Clappison, A., Hilton, J., & Goodwin, A. (2024) · Journal of Rural Studies · doi:10.1016/j.jrurstud.2024.103281 · Cited by 19 · see citing works
Piters, B. D. S., Termeer, E., Bakker, D., Fonteijn, H. M. J., & Brouwer, H. (2021) · Sustainable development · doi:10.5772/intechopen.99899 · Cited by 16 · see citing works
Digitalization in production and warehousing in food supply chains
Sgarbossa, F., Romsdal, A., Oluyisola, O. E., & Strandhagen, J. O. (2022) · Elsevier eBooks · doi:10.1016/b978-0-323-91614-1.00016-2 · Cited by 15 · see citing works
Local innovation in food system policies: A case study of six Australian local governments
Carrad, A., Turner, L., Rose, N., Charlton, K. E., & Reeve, B. H. (2022) · Journal of Agriculture Food Systems and Community Development · doi:10.5304/jafscd.2022.121.007 · Cited by 15 · see citing works
Isgren, E., Clough, Y., Murage, A. W., & Andersson, E. (2023) · Food Security · doi:10.1007/s12571-023-01387-z · Cited by 15 · see citing works
“…the global seed and agrochemical industry translates to increasing influence to shape not only agricultural markets and technology pathways but also policy and governance frameworks, in ways that may undermine the goals of equitable, healthy and sustainable food systems more broadly (Clapp, 2021).”
BackgroundDegrowth as a plausible pathway for food systems transformation
Gibson, M., Mason-D’Croz, D., Norberg, A., Conti, C., Alvarado, M. B., & Herrero, M. (2025) · Nature Food · doi:10.1038/s43016-024-01108-5 · Cited by 15 · see citing works
“However, the nature of this transformation is deeply contested, with powerful actors working to maintain the status quo or shape future pathways in their interest 10–12 .”
Klassen, S., Medland, L., Nicol, P., & Pitt, H. (2023) · Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development · doi:10.5304/jafscd.2023.122.004 · Cited by 12 · see citing works
“…interests (Birner et al., 2021; Carolan, 2020; Duncan et al., 2022), and rarely seek to advance ecologically diversified or socially just alternatives to industrialized food production (Wittman et al., 2020), risking potentially adverse lock-ins with undesirable consequences (Clapp, 2021).”
BackgroundEkaputri, A. D., Gaveau, D., Heilmayr, R., & Carlson, K. M. (2025) · Communications Earth & Environment · doi:10.1038/s43247-025-02683-6 · Cited by 14 · see citing works
“Smallholder exclusion has immense consequences for global food system equity and sustainability 84 .”
- Authors
- Clapp, J.
- ORCID
- Clapp, Jennifer
- Venue
- Nature Food
- Published
- 2021-06-03
- Volume
- 2
- Issue
- 6
- Pages
- 404-408
- ISSN
- 2662-1355 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W3170531652
- Cited by
- 359
- References
- 56
- Citations by year
- 2026: 81 · 2025: 92 · 2024: 64 · 2023: 67 · 2022: 38 · 2021: 17
- FWCI
- 2.98
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Licence
- Locations
- Nature Food (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- Gouvernement du Canada | Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (435-2020-0664)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › General Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Agriculture, Land Use, Rural Development
- Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management › Global Public Health Policies and Epidemiology
- Social Sciences › Economics, Econometrics and Finance › Economics and Econometrics › Economics of Agriculture and Food Markets
- Keywords
- business concentration, market power, global food system, seed industry, agrochemical industry, industry consolidation, competition policy, food governance, corporate influence on policy, innovation agenda, sustainability
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