Back in the early 1990s, many of Seedling’s pages
were devoted to discussions about international treaties and public
research agendas. Corporations were part of the discussion, but mainly
as a looming threat, one group of actors pushing forward the industrial
model of agriculture that was destroying agricultural biodiversity.
Fast-forward twenty years, and the landscape has changed. Corporate
power in the food system has grown by leaps and bounds. Today
corporations set the global rules, with governments and public research
centers following their lead.

The fall-out of this transformation for the planet’s biodiversity,
and the people who look after it, has been devastating. Corporations
have used their power to expand monoculture crop production, undermine
farmers’ seed systems and cut into local markets. They are making it
much more difficult for small farmers to stay on the land and feed
their families and communities. This is why social movements are
increasingly pointing to food and agribusiness corporations as the
problem in the global food system and the focus of their resistance.

Seeds

Over
the past two decades the seed industry has been dramatically
transformed, from an industry of small seed companies and public
programs to an industry dominated by a handful of transnational
corporations (TNCs). Today just ten corporations control half of the
global market for commercial seeds (see illustration, “Top 10
corporations’ share of the global seed market”, page 16). Most are
pesticide producers focusing on the development of genetically modified
(GM) crops that support a chemically intensive agriculture.