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The environmental cost of the corporate industrial food complex

The trend toward corporate consolidation and concentration in the food system is closely linked to the industrialization of agricultural production over more than four decades. That time period has ushered in revolutionary shifts in all phases of food production, from chemical fertilizers and pesticides through new techniques in food processing, preservation and packaging, to management models that facilitate the scaling-up of distribution and retail operations.

Even as modern consumers have absorbed these core "advances," new developments, from genetic modification to irradiation, are further cementing the link between industrial technology and the global food system. At the same time, patent laws and international frameworks governing intellectual property rights place this technology in the hands of ever-fewer transnational agro-food companies.

The environmental impacts of these decades of industrial agriculture are already apparent, including:
Contamination of soil and water through dependence on chemical inputs and pesticides;
Air and ground pollution from accumulation of animal waste from huge factory farms;
Soil erosion and desertification caused by large-scale monocultural cropping;
Damage to nature and wildlife whose ecosystems are upset by everything from pollution to changes in water distribution to accommodate large-scale irrigation requirements;
Loss of biodiversity caused by reduction in the number of plant species, as well as risks from cross-pollination between genetically-modified organisms and indigenous varieties.

Pesticide industries must pay for debts to the poorest countries:

In 2008, 80 participants (mainly from the region but also from Europe) gathered in Quito, Ecuador, for a conference on ecological debt organized by Jubilee South America and several other Latin American networks. The discussion focused on the implications of claiming the social and ecological debt from the developed countries responsible for environmental contamination. Mining, deforestation, and the legacy of the green revolution were implicated as the causes of most of the pesticide contamination in the environment and to the human beings who live and work in or near these areas.  Pesticide Action Network of Latin America introduced a short video documentary about the problems caused by these industries. The worst examples were the extensive amount of illness experienced by banana plantation workers. There has been no compensation by the companies for the damages their products cause in humans or to the environment.

Countries and workers are in the process of submitting claims of "recognition" of the social and ecological debt accumulated by several northern companies. Within this recognition framework, compensation and restoration of damaged ecosystems will be negotiated and outlined. This implies that the commercial interests and economic power of these companies based in the North must be balanced with the social and ecological impacts in the South. —M Lanuza