The supply chain starts with food producers. In the past, U.S. food production included many privately owned agriculture, dairy, and livestock farms in addition to commercial farms. Currently, most food production is controlled by large, increasingly-consolidated corporations. According to a 2021 study, “The farm inputs sector, food production, processing, commodity trade, and food retail are all dominated by 3–5 large companies… Firm size does not necessarily equate to problematic practices. The problem is when corporate concentration results in an excess of power held by dominant firms that enables them to advance their own interests in ways which can impose costs on other actors in society as well as the natural environment. The food system is often portrayed as resembling an hourglass–with many producers on one end, many consumers on the other end, and just a few corporations at the choke point in the middle. When that middle space becomes smaller… those firms are able to exert more power to control the ways in which food and agricultural commodities and inputs pass through…Concentrated firms can also utilize their position to set the terms of labor conditions in the agri-food sector… As we learned with the unfolding pandemic, laborers in the highly concentrated meatpacking industry, as well as workers in other food processing facilities and migrant farm laborers, have also faced poor pay and difficult working conditions that have put them at increased risk of infection and death from COVID-19… Consumer choices are also affected by corporate concentration, as large processing and retail firms play an enormous role in determining what foods appear on supermarket shelves. Although many products and brands appear to be available, often these brands are owned by a small handful of food processing firms that market them under different names…Most of these products, however, are highly processed foods, which raise important health concerns and have been associated with a rise in obesity and a wide array of chronic non-communicable diseases” (Clapp). 

Changes in the U.S. food system are needed to protect both consumers and workers. “Over 20 million people work in the US food system – that’s about one-eighth of the US labor force. Compared to workers in other sectors, food workers are more likely to be underpaid, to lack health insurance and other benefits, and to face unsafe, unhealthy or exploitative working conditions. According to a 2016 report by the Food Chain Workers Alliance, 8 of the 10 worst-paying jobs in the US are food system jobs” (Food Justice).

Sustainable food production promotes both ecosystem and public health in a number of different ways. By contrast, commercial food systems pollute the land, air, and sea; hazardous substances used in food production, packaging, and products pollute our bodies. Neurotoxins, carcinogens, endocrine disruptors and other chemicals, additives, and contaminants are found in the food we eat. (Nadakavukaren). Runoff from precipitation carries pesticide residues into soils, groundwaters and rivers; oceanic dead zones are created when pesticide residues are carried out to sea. Pesticides can also be carried by the wind or volatized into the air before landing miles away from their intended target (Nesheim).