The Power of Corporate Agriculture: Part I
Small, family-run farms that once occupied most of the American landscape have disappeared at astonishing rates since the late 1980s as corporate conglomerates have swept across rural areas, buying up the land and forcing farmers to work for them or leave the industry.
While the U.S. Department of Agriculture likes to tout the fact that 88% of U.S. farms are small and family owned,[i] it doesn’t reveal that many of these are hobby farms that don’t produce most of the food that ends up on grocery shelves.
Most people are aware of the harm perpetuated by Big Oil and Big Pharma, whose disastrous effects — oil spills, the opioid crisis, rising gas and drug prices — can be visibly traced back to them. But Big Ag (and Big Animal Ag — meat, dairy, and eggs — in particular) has mastered the art of creating a mythology around the role of meat in our diets and culture, all while feeding the public misleading images of happy cows in lush environments.
Big Ag will do anything to mask the reality that behind the illusion of wholesome Fourth of July barbecues, Thanksgiving gatherings, and farms with American family values is an ugly, greedy, and oppressive system that poses imminent threats to public welfare, from greenhouse gas emissions to air and water pollution, deforestation, chronic disease, and increased pandemic risks.
I could spend hours discussing the atrocities committed against the environment, animals, local communities, and public health, but others have already done those topics justice. We also know that intensive agriculture greatly harms biodiversity, which I’ll dive into more in future posts.
But in this multi-part series, I want to focus on how shadowy corporations have built an empire of wealth and power with help from the government and continue to use this influence to shape policies to their advantage.
The number of farms in the United States is currently the lowest it has been since 1850, when our total population was less than 1/14th of what it is today.[ii] Now, a small number of farms disproportionately control the market. In 2022, fewer than 1% of U.S. farms produced 42% of sales while 74% of farms produced just 2% of sales.[iii] Likewise, the largest 2% of farms controlled 42% of all U.S. farmland while 42% of farms controlled just 2% of all farmland.[iv]
As for the meat industry, the four largest corporations currently control 82% of the American beef market, 66% of the pork market, and 54% of the poultry market.[v] Ninety-nine percent of all land animals raised for food in the United States are on CAFOs[vi] — confined animal feeding operations — where hundreds to thousands of animals are crammed into tight spaces to maximize production.
Between 1987 and 2017, the number of U.S. dairy farms declined by about 73%, hog farms by 76%, egg farms by 53%, and broiler chicken farms by 25%.[vii] There are now 1.7 billion animals on CAFOs — nearly double that of 20 years ago.[viii]
The Big Animal Ag lobby is one of the most powerful vested interest groups in the country. Our political system, founded by and for what was once a nation of farmers, has enabled the rise of what many call the “iron triangle” — an entrenched, mutually beneficial alliance between interest groups, USDA, and the House and Senate agriculture committees.
Big Ag lobbies both USDA and Congress to pass low-regulation, pro-industry rules and legislation. USDA is often run by former industry leaders (this is the famed “revolving door”), including current Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack, who was previously president and CEO of the U.S. Dairy Export Council.
Big Ag has managed to insert itself into every major agricultural and food policy governing our country. Its fingerprints are everywhere. The farm bill, for example, which is the omnibus legislation that dictates most major agriculture appropriations and programs, contains a prominent section dedicated to ensuring that all schools serve children dairy milk at every meal.
The USDA’s Eat Right Food Pyramid (now redesigned into “MyPlate”) was created to teach Americans how to eat nutritiously — but it was revised under intense industry pressure to appear more encouraging of meat-heavy diets.
At the state level, Big Animal Ag has fought tooth and nail against laws that protect whistleblowers on farms.
In turn, Big Ag supports USDA by lobbying for funding and cooperating with agency actions, and it pours millions of dollars into political campaigns.[ix]
Through government lobbying, agrifood corporations shape policies that enable them to harm workers, raise consumer prices, prevent competition, obtain unfair financial advantages, and block accountability.
In the next Rooted in Policy post (Part II of this series), I’ll dive deeper into the ways Big Ag’s involvement in government directly harms millions of Americans, from workers to consumers to taxpayers.
Rooted in Policy is a blog making the connections between policy, agrifood systems, and biodiversity more digestible for everyone. It’s written by Leah Kelly, food and agriculture policy specialist at the Center for Biological Diversity.
[i] USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS). (2021, January 22). Family-owned farms account for 96% of U.S. farms, according to the Census of Agriculture Typology Report: Small family farms make up 88% of all U.S. farms. https://www.nass.usda.gov/Newsroom/archive/2021/01-22-2021.php
[ii] USDA Economic Research Service. (2024, February). The number of U.S. farms continues slow decline. https://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/chart-gallery/gallery/chart-detail/?chartId=58268
[iii] USDA NASS. (2022). 2022 census of agriculture highlights: Farm economics. https://www.nass.usda.gov/Publications/Highlights/2024/Census22_HL_FarmEconomics_FINAL.pdf
[iv] USDA NASS. (2022). 2022 census of agriculture highlights: Farms and farmland. https://www.nass.usda.gov/Publications/Highlights/2024/Census22_HL_FarmsFarmland.pdf
[v] Deese, B., Fazili, S., & Ramamurti, B. (2021, September 8). Addressing concentration in the meat-processing industry to lower food prices for American families. The White House. https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/blog/2021/09/08/addressing-concentration-in-the-meat-processing-industry-to-lower-food-prices-for-american-families/
[vi] Anthis, J.R. (2019, April 11). US factory farming estimates. Sentience Institute. https://www.sentienceinstitute.org/us-factory-farming-estimates
[vii] Hendrickson, M.K., Howard, P.H., Miller, E.M., & Constance, D.H. (2020). Consolidation in U.S. livestock and crop sectors, 1987 to 2017. Family Farm Action Alliance. https://farmaction.us/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/FFAA.LivestockConsolidation.pdf
[viii] Food & Water Watch. (2024, February 13). New USDA data shows nearly 50% increase in U.S. factory farmed animals in 20 years. https://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/2024/02/13/new-usda-data-shows-nearly-50-increase-in-u-s-factory-farmed-animals-in-20-years/
[ix] Open Secrets. (n.d.). House agriculture committee: 118th congress (2022 cycle). https://www.opensecrets.org/cong-cmtes/overview?cmte=HAGR&cmtename=Agriculture&cong=118&cycle=2022
