Food Consolidation
Food Chain Radio Show #1155
Michael Olson, Author & Urban Farming Agriculturalist
The Great Food Consolidation!
Guest: Claire Kelloway, Food Reporter & Policy Analyst, Open Markets Institute
As host of the Food Chain Radio show, I came to observe that certain trends along the food chain seem to hold true.
Michael Olson Food Chain Radio – Food Consolidation and Food Safety
And so, about a thousand editions ago, I offered them up as “Michael Olson’s Three Laws of the Food Chain.” The Second Law is: “The farther we go from the source of our food, the less control we have over what’s in our food.” Follow along for a moment…
If, for example, we grow a melon in our garden, we will have a lot of control over what goes into that melon. But if we buy that melon from a farmer in China, we will have very little control over what goes into that melon.
This principle holds true for the companies from which we buy our food. If we buy a melon from a local farmer at the farmers market, we can look into their eyes and see what’s in the melon. But, if we buy a melon from the big box store, we have to rely on the big box store to tell us what’s in the melon.
A few generations ago we lived very close to our food, and so were very much in control over what went into our food. Then almost all of us moved into town where we became reliant on others to provide our food. The companies that did provide our food either prospered, grew, and consolidated. Today, 11 companies provide us with most of the food we eat.
And so we pause to ask…
Leave a comment below: Has the consolidation of food made us more or less secure?
Nationally syndicated Food Chain Radio airs live Saturday mornings 9-10AM Pacific.
