Food industry: Difference between revisions

The [[Bretton Woods system|Bretton Woods Institutions]] - The World Bank and [[International Monetary Fund]] - play a large role in how the food industry functions today.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last=Hickel |first=Jason |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/984907212 |title=The divide : a brief guide to global inequality and its solutions |date=2017 |isbn=978-1-78515-112-5 |location=London |oclc=984907212}}</ref> These global funds were born after World War II, to help rebuild Europe and prevent another Great Depression. Overall, their main purpose was to stabilize economies.<ref name=":1" /> The IMF provided short term loans while the World Bank was focused on larger projects that would bring electricity back to cities, roads, and other "essential" needs.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Goldman |first=Michael |url=https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.12987/9780300132090/html |title=Imperial Nature |date=2008-10-01 |publisher=Yale University Press |isbn=978-0-300-13209-0 |language=en |doi=10.12987/9780300132090|s2cid=264519062 }}</ref> The World Banks mission and purpose, however, transformed as its President Robert McNamara issued a system of loans known as [[Structural adjustment|Structural Adjustment]]. In accepting loans from the World Bank, countries - especially the Global South - became economically, politically, and socially tied to the West.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Steinmetz-Jenkins |first=Daniel |date=2022-06-15 |title=The Rotten Roots of the IMF and the World Bank |language=en-US |url=https://www.thenation.com/article/culture/the-rotten-roots-of-global-economic-governance/ |access-date=2022-12-08 |issn=0027-8378}}</ref> Many countries struggled to pay back their loans, beginning the process of global debt, privatization, and the downfall of local economies.<ref name=":02">{{Cite book |last=Escobar |first=Arturo |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/757736395 |title=Encountering Development: The Making and Unmaking of the Third World |date=2012 |isbn=978-1-4008-3992-6 |edition= |location=Princeton, N.J. |pages=3 |language=en |oclc=757736395}}</ref> As a result of Western intervention, many small scale farmers have been displaced, as US corporations have bought out land in other countries and continued to monopolize on food.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Clapp |first=Jennifer |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1013824989 |title=Speculative harvests : financialization, food, and agriculture |date=2018 |others=S. Ryan Isakson |isbn=978-1-77363-023-6 |location=Black Point, Nova Scotia |oclc=1013824989}}</ref> Today, several multinational corporations have pushed agricultural technologies on developing countries including improved seeds, chemical fertilizers, and pesticides, crop production.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Aktar |first1=Wasim |last2=Sengupta |first2=Dwaipayan |last3=Chowdhury |first3=Ashim |date=2009-03-01 |title=Impact of pesticides use in agriculture: their benefits and hazards |journal=Interdisciplinary Toxicology |volume=2 |issue=1 |pages=1–12 |doi=10.2478/v10102-009-0001-7 |issn=1337-9569 |pmc=2984095 |pmid=21217838}}</ref>

In 2020, researchers published projections and models of potential impacts of [[policy]]-dependent mechanisms of modulation, or lack thereof, of [[food system|how, where, and what food is produced]]. They analyzed policy-effects for specific regions or nations such as reduction of [[environmental impact of meat|meat production and consumption]], reductions in [[food waste]] and loss, [[Agricultural productivity#Sustainable agriculture|increases in crop yields]] and international [[land-use planning]]. Their conclusions include that raising agricultural yields is highly beneficial for biodiversity-conservation in sub-Saharan Africa while measures leading to shifts of diets are highly beneficial in North America and that global coordination and rapid action are necessary.<ref>{{cite news |title=Global food industry on course to drive rapid habitat loss – research |url=https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/dec/21/global-food-industry-to-drive-rapid-habitat-loss-research |access-date=17 January 2021 |work=The Guardian |date=21 December 2020 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Current food production systems could mean far-reaching habitat loss |url=https://phys.org/news/2020-12-current-food-production-far-reaching-habitat.html |access-date=17 January 2021 |work=phys.org |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last1=Williams|first1=David R.|last2=Clark|first2=Michael|last3=Buchanan|first3=Graeme M.|last4=Ficetola|first4=G. Francesco|last5=Rondinini|first5=Carlo|last6=Tilman|first6=David|date=21 December 2020|title=Proactive conservation to prevent habitat losses to agricultural expansion|url=https://www.nature.com/articles/s41893-020-00656-5|journal=Nature Sustainability|language=en|volume=4|issue=4|pages=314–322|doi=10.1038/s41893-020-00656-5|bibcode=2020NatSu...4..314W |issn=2398-9629|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210125142655/https://www.nature.com/articles/s41893-020-00656-5|archive-date=25 January 2021|access-date=17 January 2021|s2cid=229346085|url-status=live|hdl=2434/857211|hdl-access=free}}</ref>

# [[Nanotechnology in agriculture|Nanotechnology]]: Nanotechnology is being used to develop new packaging materials that can extend the shelf life of food and reduce [[Food loss and waste|food waste]]. These materials can also be designed to be [[biodegradable]], reducing the environmental impact of packaging.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Nanotechnology in Agriculture and Food Systems |url=http://www.nifa.usda.gov/about-nifa/impacts/nanotechnology-agriculture-food-systems |access-date=2023-05-05 |website=National Institute of Food and Agriculture |date=24 May 2022 |language=en}}</ref>