Post Tags: Food

Block Bayer-Monsanto Merger, Says Major New Legal Study

Friends of the Earth Europe, WeMove.EU, Food & Water Europe, SumOfUs

For immediate release: Monday October 16

Brussels, October 16 – The proposed merger between Bayer and Monsanto should be blocked under EU competition law, according to a major new study from University College London to be released on World Food Day.

The authors of the report claim that the European Commission should be obliged to block the merger – which is currently under an in-depth investigation from the European Commission – even on a narrow reading of EU competition law.

The analysis concludes that the “Baysanto” merger should be blocked as:

  • It would reduce competition: It concentrates even further an already tightly-packed agriculture sector. Just three mega-companies (ChemChina-Syngenta, DuPont-Dow and Bayer-Monsanto) would own and sell about 64% of the world’s pesticides, and 60% of the world’s patented seeds.
  • It would raise prices and farmer dependency: One-stop inclusive packages of all services needed for agriculture (seeds, pesticides, and also “digital farming” products) would lock farmers into the company’s value chain, making them technologically dependent and facing price hikes in seeds and pesticides.
  • Asset selling won’t solve the crisis: Even if the Commission forces the companies to sell off some products the market is already so concentrated that divesting particular products will not address the merger’s negative effects on future competition in the seeds markets.
  • It would stifle alternative businesses: The three mega-corporations controlling the global food value chain would “entrench the market power of the dominant players for the decades to come”, thereby freezing more sustainable forms of agriculture

The academics also call on the European Commission to broaden its investigation of the merger to take into account the full social and environmental costs, as they are likely to “lead to important risks for food security and safety, biodiversity… [and risks for] affordable food prices, high quality of food, variety and innovation”.

Adrian Bebb, food and farming campaigner at Friends of the Earth Europe said: “EU competition chief Margrethe Vestager has more than enough arguments to block the unholy alliance of Bayer and Monsanto, and send a strong signal that the EU is prepared to stand up to these mega-corporations in order to protect farmers, citizens and our environment.

“The consolidation taking place between these agriculture giants would have major impacts on the future of our countryside, rural livelihoods and our environment. It is vital that the European Commission widens its investigation to ensure that we retain the possibility to move agriculture onto a sustainable and resilient footing to help counter climate change and halt biodiversity loss.”

Earlier this year over 200 civil society organisations called on European Competition Commissioner Vestager to stop the current wave of mergers in the agri-business sector. Almost 900,000 citizens have signed petitions calling for the Commission to act.

 

 

 

 

Opposition Rises to Planned Agriculture Mega-mergers: Major Threat to Our Food and Farms, Says Civil Society

Brussels, March 27, 2017 – More than 200 organisations –including Food & Water Europe – have today raised their objections to the planned mergers of six giant agriculture corporations.

The farmer, farmworker, beekeeper, religious, international development, and environmental groups claim that the three resulting companies will concentrate market power and “exacerbate the problems caused by industrial farming – with negative consequences for the public, farmers and farm workers, consumers, the environment, and food security” in an open letter to the European Commission and Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager [1]

The European and national organisations – together representing millions of members – state that the proposed mergers of Dow Chemical with DuPont, Monsanto with Bayer AG, and Syngenta with ChemChina will lead to an unacceptable monopoly, with three companies controlling around 70% of the world’s agro-chemicals and more than 60% of commercial seeds.

Ramona Duminicioiu, peasant seed producer of the farmer organization European Coordination Via Campesina said: “Approving these mergers works completely against the rights of peasants, with far reaching effects in our society. When the Commission says that small family farms are the back bone of European agriculture does it honestly believe that or is it just lip service? The already fragile rights of peasants regarding seeds, land and markets risks of being obliterated by these mega-corporations and our Food Sovereignty abducted. The Commission should say no to these mergers!”

Adrian Bebb of Friends of the Earth Europe said: “Europe’s food and farming system is broken and if giant firms, like Monsanto and Bayer, are allowed to merge they will have an even tighter toxic grip on our food. The mergers are a marriage made in hell and should be blocked by regulators. We need to build a fairer and greener food system out of corporate control.”

Arnd Spahn from the European trade unions of agricultural workers EFFAT said:  “Workers, as well as the environment and all society, are victims of the use of pesticides. We are fighting for health and safety on work places and we need partners for our ideas. Today the producers of pesticides are big, but after such a merger they will be too big for anybody to bring them on a path to worker and environmental protection. How shall we stop Glyphosate if we have such strong opponents?”

Isabelle Brachet of CONCORD Europe said: “Ending hunger implies addressing power imbalances in our food systems. A small number of multinational corporations dominate internationally traded food systems and get most of the knowledge, benefits and access to decision makers. Corporate power in our food must be restrained – not further extended by mega-mergers. The main investors in agriculture in developing countries are farmers themselves and it is they who must be at the centre of agriculture development policies.”[3]

The organisations have called on the European Commission to reject the mergers, prevent the damage caused by these corporations, and urgently take steps to support just and sustainable food systems less dependent on agri-business.

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[1] See the letter.

¿UN PAÍS PARA CERDOS?

Categories

Food

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La industria española del porcino supone el 37 por ciento del total de la producción ganadera, y el 14 por ciento de la producción agraria total, generando alrededor de 6 millones de euros en 2014.

España es el tercer mayor exportador mundial de porcino, detrás de China y Estados Unidos, tras convertirse en 2015 en el principal exportador de la Unión Europea (UE), por delante de Alemania y Dinamarca. En ese mismo año, España
alcanzó también el mayor censo de la UE, con 28.3 millones de cerdos. Mientras que otros productores europeos reducen su producción, España la incrementa, así como sus exportaciones, como resultado de una industria con un alto nivel de integración y con los costes de producción más reducidos entre los principales países productores de la UE.

SPAIN, TOWARDS A PIG FACTORY FARM NATION?

Categories

Food

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Spain is the third largest exporter of pork after China and the United States and has the largest pig population in the EU, 28,3 million animals.

Production and exports are growing as a result of high industry integration and low production costs. But that means that the industry is getting concentrated in just a few hands, with the number of farms diminishing rapidly and farmers facing growing marginalization. And this industry is not being held accountable for its impacts on the environment, workers and communities.

Fracking and the Food System

Categories

WaterFood

FoodandWaterEuropeFrackingFoodThe oil and gas industry likes to promote fracking as a boon to farmers and rural communities, but the dream often turns into a nightmare. In the United States, fracking has polluted water wells, sickened people and livestock, and reduced available farmland — proving that fracking and a healthy food system are not compatible.

As seen in the United States, the rapid expansion of oil and gas fracking has created significant environmental and public health problems.

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Many of these problems are inherent to the practice and cannot be avoided through regulation, which is why fracking should be banned.

Find out more about why we need to:

  • Move past the false promises of the oil and gas industry
  • Invest in economic development in rural communities that safeguards our food and water
  • Develop policies that allow farmers to make a fair living farming on their land, rather than resorting to leasing their farms for polluting energy production.

Californian Food Products Irrigated With Oil Production Wastewater Might Arrive in Europe

Brussels, 8 August 2016 — A report by Food & Water Europe shows the worrying link between toxic oil production and what we eat and drink. Extreme oil extraction techniques produce millions of liters of toxic wastewater. In California, the oil industry has found a way to get rid of this wastewater by selling it to local public water agencies, which, in turn, sell it to farmers to irrigate crops. The EU is one of the main importers of Californian food products.

In Kern County, in California’s agricultural Central Valley, up to half the water used by farmers in one local water district is “produced”—that is minimally treated and diluted oil waste water— from nearby Chevron operations. Wastewater tested in California contained toxics like carcinogen benzene. Although the wastewater is treated, drilling chemicals can persist. No regulations specifically address the treatment of drilling wastewater in the U.S. state.

“The use of oil wastewater for agriculture is not properly regulated in California, said Frida Kieninger, campaign officer at Food & Water Europe. “We don’t have any data on the extent to which crops absorb the chemicals in the wastewater, or what the human health consequences might be. Producers are not even required to label food exposed to such irrigation. With so little information, Californian regulators are playing Russian Roulette with the safety of consumers”

California is among the top agricultural exporters in the U.S. About 80 percent of almonds consumed globally come from the Golden State and one-third of California’s almond exports are destined for the EU. Wine, pistachios, walnuts and raisins are also exported to EU member states, especially to Germany, Spain and the UK.

“Food imports from California make the issue not only of concern to Americans, but also to consumers globally ”, added Frida Kieninger. “The fact that food irrigated with toxic oil chemicals might end up on our plates and in our stomachs is completely unacceptable. European authorities must take action, especially in the context of the TTIP negotiations.”

Get the Report: Fracking and the Food System

Contact: Frida Kieninger, Campaigns officer, Food & Water Europe, +32 (0) 2893 1045 (land), +32 (0) 487 249 905 (mobile), fkieninger(at)fweurope.org