Malawi : farmer watering his field of sugar cane.
Who will feed us? The industrial food chain vs the Peasant Food Web
by GMWatch.org [1]
We are told that big agribusiness, with its GM crops, flashy techno-fixes and financial clout, will save the world from widespread hunger and malnutrition and help food systems weather the impacts of climate change.
However, a report from ETC Group shows that in fact, it is a diverse network of small-scale producers, dubbed the Peasant Food Web, that feeds 70% of the world, including the most hungry and marginalized people.
The flagship report, “Who Will Feed Us?”, is a data-driven report full of unexpected statistics that reveal a tale of two food systems. This is the third edition, and most complete synthesis, of a research exercise that ETC Group has been undertaking for several years. “Who Will Feed Us?” upturns common assumptions about who feeds whom in a hungry world…
Highlights of the report include:
* Peasants (not food corporations) feed the world: 70% of the world’s population is fed by the Peasant Food Web, using only 25% of resources.
* Industrial food production fails to feed: Only 24% of the food produced by the Industrial Food Chain actually reaches people – the rest is wasted in meat production inefficiencies; lost in transport, storage and at the household; and diverted to non-food products.
* Industrial food costs us more: For every dollar spent on industrial food, it costs another 2 dollars to clean up the mess ($8.56 trillion dollars in waste and damages).
* Industrial food production uses 2-3 times more fossil energy (up to 9 times more in the case of rice).
* Industrial food production is responsible for 85-90% of all agricultural greenhouse gas emissions, loses 75 billion tonnes of soil annually, narrows crop genetic diversity by 75% (and livestock diversity from almost 9000 breeds to only 100 drawn from only 5 species), and accelerates nutritional decline between 5-40%, depending on the species/breeds.
* Industrial food production’s poisons fail to work – only 1-5% of chemicals applied actually hit the target. The rest end up polluting soil, water, air, and human and animal consumers.
The report is available to download in English [2] and Spanish [3].
Read the full article at GMWatch.org [1]