In fact, according to agriculture expert Raj Patel, although the average basket of food has increased by 2.0 percent in real terms over the past 20 years, farmers are receiving 40 percent less. And the National Farmers Union estimates that for every dollar that U.S. consumers spend on food, only 20 cents actually goes to farmers or ranchers. The rest is found in "marketing, processing, wholesaling, distribution and retailing".
This increasing concentration means a fewer number of agribusinesses are exerting a larger amount of influence over the food supply chain, from inputs to sale. Critics of this situation compare it to the shape of an hourglass. A vast amount of producers must funnel their goods through a handful of large corporations before they can make their way to consumers.
Research by Mary Hendrickson, a rural sociologist at the University of Missouri, shows the level of influence by agribusiness in the United States has increased significantly. In soybean crushing, for example, the largest four firms now make up 80 percent of the market, whereas in 1977 they comprised 54 percent. In flour milling, the top four have increased their concentration from 42 percent of the market in 1982 to over 60 percent today.
Farming is also concentrated at the extreme beginning and endpoints of U.S. agriculture. The top two seed providers comprise 58 percent of the marketplace and nearly half of purchased food comes from just five retailers: Wal-Mart, Kroger, Albertson's, Safeway, and Ahold.
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