La concentration du pouvoir dans le système alimentaire mondial ET LA MENACE DES BIG DATA

The document examines how mega-mergers and the integration of Big Data are consolidating power within the global agri-food system, marginalizing small farmers and increasing environmental risks.

• Mega-mergers and acquisitions have led to an unprecedented concentration of power across the global food chain, with a small group of giants controlling sectors from fertilizers and pesticides to retail.
• The seed and agrochemical markets are highly oligopolistic; four companies control approximately 70% of global agrochemical sales and two-thirds of global seed sales, with Bayer, Corteva Agriscience, and Syngenta appearing on both lists.
• Financialization has accelerated consolidation, as institutional investors and asset managers pressure companies for mergers to increase profits. In 2016, the top six asset managers held between 15% and 33% of shares in the 'Big Six' agrochemical firms.
• Big Data platforms are creating a new driver of concentration by shifting commercial advantages to those who can accumulate and manipulate massive datasets, encouraging companies to merge across sectors to avoid losing information advantages.
• The industrial food system's concentration negatively impacts small producers—who provide over 70% of global food production—by reducing their incomes, autonomy, and access to resources while increasing their debt.
• Technological advancements such as AI-driven robotics, blockchain, and synthetic biology (SynBio) risk creating 'agriculture without farmers' by shifting decision-making from the field to algorithms and corporate boardrooms.
• Industrial food chain consolidation exacerbates climate change and environmental degradation by promoting monocultures, reducing genetic diversity, and increasing greenhouse gas emissions.
• The report advocates for agroecology as a sustainable alternative that returns control to small-scale producers and respects the UN Declaration on the Rights of Peasants.

APA

Donicie, C. (2019). La concentration du pouvoir dans le système alimentaire mondial ET LA MENACE DES BIG DATA. Friends of the Earth International. https://www.foei.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/2019-Concentration-du-pouvoir-dans-le-système-alimentaire-mondial.pdf

Chicago

Donicie, Camiel. La concentration du pouvoir dans le système alimentaire mondial ET LA MENACE DES BIG DATA. Friends of the Earth International, 2019. https://www.foei.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/2019-Concentration-du-pouvoir-dans-le-système-alimentaire-mondial.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Donicie |first1=Camiel |title=La concentration du pouvoir dans le système alimentaire mondial ET LA MENACE DES BIG DATA |publisher=Friends of the Earth International |date=April 2019 |url=https://www.foei.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/2019-Concentration-du-pouvoir-dans-le-système-alimentaire-mondial.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{donicie2019concentration, author = {Donicie, Camiel}, title = {{La concentration du pouvoir dans le système alimentaire mondial ET LA MENACE DES BIG DATA}}, institution = {Friends of the Earth International}, year = {2019}, month = apr, url = {https://www.foei.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/2019-Concentration-du-pouvoir-dans-le-système-alimentaire-mondial.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }