Understanding Who Controls Our Food Controls Our Future –Everything You Need to Know

Introduction

Who Controls Our Food Controls Our Future, authored by Adam Tugwell and first published on 14 November 2024, explores the critical issue of food control and its impact on the future of society, particularly in the UK.

Written in response to the changes in Inheritance Tax Relief for Farmers in the UK October 2024 Budget, it aims to reveal the complex layers of the food chain, the collapse of farming, the disappearance of food security, and the myths that obscure these realities from consumers.

Key Themes and Points

1. The Importance of Food and Food Security

• Food is as essential as water and air for health and survival, yet its importance is often overlooked until access is threatened.
• UK food security is fragile; political decisions and global dependencies have made the nation vulnerable to shortages if borders close or supply chains are disrupted.

2. Food Quality and Nutrition

• There is a widespread misconception that all food is healthy, regardless of its source or processing.
• Highly processed, low-nutrition foods have become normalised, driven by global business models and marketing narratives that prioritise profit over health.

3. The Food Chain Onion: Layers and Stakeholders

The document uses the metaphor of an “onion” to describe the multilayered food chain, each with distinct interests and influences:

Consumers

• Consumers are key stakeholders but often feel and are treated as powerless, accepting what is available or affordable without questioning their influence.

Retailers (Supermarkets)

• Supermarkets prioritise profit, using data and contracts to control farmers and manipulate consumers through loyalty schemes and pricing strategies.

Processors and Manufacturers

• Processing has shifted from traditional, healthy methods to industrial, profit-driven practices that often harm health and undermine local food systems.
• Manufacturers create addictive, unhealthy foods and collaborate with retailers to maximise profits.

Merchants and Landowners

• Merchants and landowners add layers of profit and control, often prioritising investment over food production and community needs.

Money Markets, Financiers, and Corporations

• Financial interests and big corporations have manipulated regulations and markets to maximise profit, often at the expense of farmers and consumers.

Politicians and Public Sector

• Politicians and government officers lack understanding and leadership, often serving party, personal or hidden interests rather than public good.

Lobbyists, Activists, and Academia

• Lobbyists and activists influence policy, sometimes without practical understanding.
• Academia fails to champion necessary paradigm shifts, remaining anchored to the current money-centric system, which ‘pays the bills’.

Membership and Advocacy Organizations

• The behaviour of big advocacy organisations like the NFU suggests they are more aligned with the establishment, rather than the industry and membership itself, often prioritising relationships with government over genuine change.

Farmers

• Farmers have lost control and are pressured by external interests, subsidies, and contracts that undermine their independence, the viability of local food production and any willingness to embrace farm-led change.

4. Narratives, Myths, and Shibboleths

Who Controls Our Food Controls Our Future identifies powerful narratives and myths that shape public perception and policy, including:

• Globalisation makes food cheaper (a myth that hides the true costs and vulnerabilities).
• Cost is the only important thing to the consumer (ignoring nutrition, provenance, and community impact).
• “BIG” farming is the only viable model (marginalising small, family or local farms).
• Money can solve every problem (overlooking the root causes of the problems that the food chain is experiencing that were created by money-centric systems).
• Various other myths about food supply, farming, supermarkets, and political interests are also debunked, emphasising the need for local, transparent, and community-driven food systems.

5. Perceptual Barriers and Solutions

• Situational bias and group gaslit isolation prevent people from recognising problems and acting for change.
• Who Controls Our Food Controls Our Future argues that profit should not be a right, especially in essential supply chains like food.
• The proposed alternative is a farmer and community-led food chain revolution, rebuilding local food systems and local circular economies with food production at the centre, to restore control, independence, and food security.

Review of Key Messages of Who Controls Our Food Controls Our Future

• Food control is central to societal well-being and future security.
• The current food system is dominated by profit-driven interests, complex layers, and misleading narratives that undermine health, local economies, and food security.
• Consumers and farmers must reclaim influence, challenge myths, and rebuild local food chains.
• Real change requires a paradigm shift away from money-centric thinking to people-centric values, prioritizing food as a public good.
• Leadership must come from the grassroots, with communities and farmers working together to create resilient, transparent, and equitable food systems.

Who Controls Our Food Controls Our Future closes by inviting readers to learn more, discuss, and remain open to new ideas, emphasizing that solutions must be collective and rooted in genuine understanding and community action.

Actions For Consumers

1. Recognise Your Influence

• Consumers are one of the two key stakeholders in the food chain. You have more influence than you realise over what food is produced and how it is supplied.

2. Prioritise Healthy, Local Food

• Seek out food that resembles its original form or source, and support traditional, local, and minimally processed foods.
• Challenge the narrative that only processed or globalised food is affordable or convenient.

3. Question Narratives and Myths

• Be sceptical of marketing, supermarket offers, and the myth that cost is the only important factor. Consider nutrition, provenance, and community impact.
• Understand that “cheap” food often comes at the expense of quality, health, and local economies.

4. Support Local Farmers and Businesses

• Build direct relationships with local farmers and small businesses. This is the only form of food chain that can be genuinely trusted.
• Choose local, fresh, and traditionally processed foods whenever possible.

5. Advocate for Change

• Engage in community discussions, challenge situational bias, and be open to new learning and perspectives.

Actions For Farmers

1. Reclaim Leadership and Independence

• Farmers must recognise their role as business leaders, not just contractors, employees or recipients of subsidies and grants.
• Accept that change must begin with farmers themselves if they want change that will benefit them.

2. Build Direct Relationships with Consumers

• Focus on direct relationships with local consumers and small local businesses, rather than relying on contracts with supermarkets, processors, or global supply chains.

3. Shift Away from Profit-Driven Models

• Challenge the myth that “BIG” farming is the only viable way. Small, local, family farms are vital for food security and community resilience.
• Prioritize food quality, environmental stewardship, and community needs over maximising profit.

4. Lead the Food Chain Revolution

• Farmers have the power to catalyse change by working with local communities to rebuild local food chains and circular economies.
• Take the risk to initiate change, even if it means stepping away from established systems and subsidies.

5. Advocate for Policy and Paradigm Shifts

• Engage with advocacy organisations, but push for genuine change rather than playing along with establishment interests and paying lip service to everything else.
• Support a paradigm shift from money-centric to people-centric values, treating food as a public good.

Summary of Actions

• Consumers and farmers must work together to rebuild trust, transparency, and resilience in the food chain.
• Direct, local relationships are the foundation for a healthy, secure, and equitable food system.
• Challenging myths, narratives, and profit-driven models is essential for meaningful change.
• Grassroots leadership and community action are the keys to restoring food security and independence for all.

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