The U.S. Wants Monsanto to Feed the World

by Kristen Ridley · 2011-02-07 06:37:00 UTC
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Last weekend, U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Director Rajiv Shah stood up before the World Economic Forum in Switzerland and announced U.S. support for a plan by 17 companies to promote global food security, a scheme called "New Visions for Agriculture." And what are the stellar companies that are selflessly promoting this bold ambition? Monsanto, Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, Archer Daniels Midland, Cargill, DuPont, General Mills, Kraft Foods, BASF, Bunge Limited, Metro AG, Nestlé, SABMiller, Syngenta, Unilever, Walmart, and Yara International. Shah called these companies agribusiness "champions," but they're really leaders in environmental destruction, worker exploitation, and promoting very, very unsustainable agricultural practices.

Needless to say, it's a little bit disconcerting when the Director of USAID and the CEO of Monsanto stand side by side and announce a bold, new plan for anything. This particular plan uses taxpayer dollars through Obama's Feed the Future initiative to "advance market-based solutions" to increase yield in the developing world. In other words, these companies will be exporting the Big Ag system to developing nations in the name of "feeding the world," but the only thing they'll really be feeding is their profits.

As the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP) indicates, global trade needs to complement — not replace — local food systems. This ideology is exactly opposite to how the aforementioned companies have always operated. It seems that the Obama administration has bought the Big Ag bull that only a centralized, industrialized system can feed the world. Not only can sustainable, localized agriculture feed the world, but industrialized farming methods are a one-way ticket to a collapse of a sustainable food system.

Tax dollars should not be used to hurt global food security and line the pockets of greedy corporations. Sign the petition our petition telling Riva Shah that taxpayer money used for foreign aid should support local food systems, not the expansion of the industrial food empire.

Photo credit: U.S. Department of State

Kristen Ridley is an artist, foodie, and aspiring grass farmer who earned her Bachelor's Degree at the University of Southern California.

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