The global food supply is under siege—not because of food shortages or excessive demand from population growth—but by agri-tech companies which are trying to monopolise agriculture through a heady mix of legislation, deregulation and strategic lobbying. Biotech giants like Bayer-Monsanto, Syngenta and Corteva are actively influencing policies to protect their business models. All at the expense of small-scale farmers, food sovereignty, and public health.

From immunity against lawsuits to the quiet deregulation of gene-edited organisms, these corporations are trying to reshape global food production. Traditional farming practices, including regenerative farming are increasingly facing unprecedented challenges caused by taxation policies, rewilding initiatives, solar farms and the push for fake, bioreactor-regenerated foods under the guise of future-proofing food supply systems to feed a ‘rapidly growing world population'. While it’s not hard to argue that the global population is growing, it’s deceptive to suggest that this growth is occurring in industrialised countries, when the vast majority of it is in sub-Saharan Africa and southern Asia. In fact, Europe’s population is shrinking.

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Corporate Influence on Policy and Deregulation

The agri-tech giants like Bayer-Monsanto, Syngenta and Corteva wield enormous influence over agricultural policy, food systems, and regulatory frameworks, ensuring regulations favour their financial interests rather than the well-being of farmers, consumers and ecosystems.

One of their primary strategies is behind-the-scenes lobbying for deregulation of genetically modified and gene-edited organisms using so-called new genomic techniques (NGTs)—an approach we might refer to GMO mk 2. These techniques are wrongly claimed by the agri-tech giants to have the same effects as natural evolution. That’s how they justify deregulation of gene-edited foods to allow them to enter the food chain without safety checks or adequate labelling.

In the European Union, UK, and New Zealand, biotech firms are aggressively pushing to remove mandatory risk assessments for organisms created using NGTs, despite significant concerns about environmental and human health impacts such as lack of long-term safety data, the risk of unintended mutations leading to allergens or ecological disruption, and the growing corporate control over patented seeds, which could further monopolise food production. This push for deregulation means that consumers and farmers will lose their right to know whether their food contains genetically modified ingredients, especially crops engineered for pesticide resistance.

In the United States, corporations are actively lobbying for state laws that will shield pesticide manufacturers from lawsuits related to health risks, such as those linked to glyphosate (Roundup). These efforts, aim to grant legal immunity to companies from being sued, when their products cause harm, setting a dangerous precedent by removing accountability. The background here is that Bayer, that now owns Monsanto, has so far paid out around $11 billion in settlements, many of these relating to concerns that the herbicide causes cancer, especially Non-Hodgkins lymphoma. But there are still another 4,414 lawsuits pending – and that’s something Bayer doesn’t want to have to foot the bill for in the knowledge that many of these cases could go against it.

In addition to legislation favouring deregulation, corporate capture of regulatory agencies is a growing problem, facilitated by a revolving door between industry and government. Former executives from major agribusiness firms frequently take leadership roles within institutions such as the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), shaping policies in favour of corporate interests. The case of former Monsanto lawyer and ‘food czar’ to the FDA, Michael Taylor, is such an example. Conversely, former regulators often move to lucrative positions within the very agribusiness firms they once oversaw, further entrenching corporate influence and weakening independent oversight.

The Impact of ‘sustainable’ solutions on Food Production

Beyond direct legislative manipulation, broader economic and environmental policies are also being leveraged to disrupt traditional farming, such as

• Inheritance taxes on farmers: In countries like the UK, high inheritance taxes on farmland may force many family-run farms to sell their land. Often, large agribusinesses or investment firms purchase this land, consolidating control and reducing independent food production.
• Rewilding programs: While environmental conservation is critical, some rewilding initiatives result in vast tracts of farmland being removed from food production as the drive to reduce CO₂ emissions in the name of complying with ‘net zero’ policies steamrolls on. It’s worth noting that policies that encourage the conversion of agricultural land into natural reserves can, if mismanaged, reduce local food self-sufficiency, driving reliance on imported food controlled by large corporations.
• Solar farms on agricultural land: Renewable energy is touted as essential to fight climate change, but the widespread conversion of fertile farmland into fields laden with solar panels is counterproductive, especially if soil health is ignored. In many regions, solar farms are being prioritised over food production, reducing available land for growing a diverse range of crops and supporting livestock in non-factory farming systems. This shift benefits large energy conglomerates while diminishing food security and far from guarantees the environmental benefits it claims to have.

The rise of synthetic food

The push for precision fermentation (‘ferming’) and lab-grown protein sources is another corporate-driven initiative that threatens traditional food production systems. While marketed as a sustainable alternative to animal agriculture, lab-grown foods are controlled by a small number of biotech firms, raising concerns about centralised control of food resources and, ultimately, food sovereignty itself. There are many unanswered questions about the safety of such production systems and their resultant ‘food’ products.

• Health and Nutrition Risks: Synthetic foods may lack the full spectrum of nutrients found in naturally occurring animal and plant products.
• Dependence on industrial inputs: Precision fermentation relies on genetically modified microbes, requiring large-scale production facilities that contribute to energy consumption and waste.
• Threat to small farmers: The rise of synthetic dairy and meat threatens traditional livestock farmers, consolidating food production under corporate ownership.

But all is not lost, and there is still a huge amount to play for. Below, we summarise some of the most important actions needed to safeguard our food supply.

How to safeguard natural food systems globally

If we’re to resist the encroachment of biotech giants and protect food sovereignty, we need to engage in the following six measures—as a matter of priority:

1. Grow and consume heritage crops and build community seed banks to protect seed sovereignty
• Support heirloom or heritage varieties that have open-pollinated seeds to reduce dependence on pesticides, improve the nutrient-density of the foods we eat, and build biodiversity in farming systems.
• We need to see community seed banks being established to give farmers access to independent seed supplies that are epigenetically-adapted to their respective regions.
• We need to work with legislators to ensure there is transparency so we know when we might be purchasing foods that have undeclared gene-edited ingredients in them and that are covered by corporate patents (that can only be granted if the food or ingredient is novel and hence new-to-nature).
2. Promote regenerative and agroecological farming
• We must encourage regenerative or agroecological farming by buying foods from these systems, whether in farm shops, famer’s markets, online or supermarkets. Creating influence via your wallet is one of the most powerful ways of forcing a shift away from chemical-dependent, industrial farmings that are increasingly moving towards gene-editing as standard practice.
• These ‘regen ag’ systems support locally-adapted crop varieties, crop rotation, cover cropping, soil conservation and integrated livestock systems and have greatly reduced or no reliance on synthetic inputs.
3. Oppose deregulation of GMOs and gene-edited organisms
• We must demand clear labelling and safety testing for all gene-edited and genetically modified products.
• We must advocate for stronger regulatory oversight of agri-tech firms.
4. Protect farmland from corporate and industrial takeover
• We must oppose land grabs by multinational agribusiness firms, venture capitalists or billionaires like Bill Gates.
• Encourage policies that protect small-scale farmers from excessive taxation and forced sales.
5. Decentralise the food system
• Support local food networks, farmers’ markets, organic, biodynamic and community-supported agriculture (CSA) (including ‘box scheme’) programmes.
• We must push for policies that limit corporate centralisation or consolidation in the agricultural and food industries.
6. Educate consumers and raising public awareness
• We must expose the corporate manipulation of food policies through independent media and grassroots movements.
• Finally we must encourage as many of us as possible to demand accountability from biotech corporations and policymakers. That means we must oppose vigorously the current push by Bayer and others to be granted immunity in the event of claims being brought against them by the courts acting on behalf of those injured by their products.

Protecting our traditional food supply

The future of food hangs in the balance, a battle between sterile, corporate-engineered commodities and the vibrant, life-sustaining legacy of our ancestors. We stand at a precipice: either surrender our plates to the biotech giants, or ignite a revolution of taste, tradition, and resilience. Let us rise, reclaim our food sovereignty, and cultivate a future where every seed sown is a defiant act of nourishment, a testament to the enduring power of real food!

But to do this work costs money, and while we’re deeply committed to advocacy and education around food sovereignty, we are urgently in need of donations so we can increase the impact of our work in this area at this critical juncture in history. Our primary targets for our work at ANH International currently are the UK and the EU. You can donate securely via this link. Thank you.

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