Thread by @bopinion

Hunger is rising around the world. In the U.S., food insecurity has doubled during Covid-19.

Here's how we got here, and here's how we can use agricultural innovations to sustain our population trib.al/ZXaVtJq

Consolidation has made the U.S. meat industry — and the global protein supply — profoundly vulnerable.

It will become more susceptible in the years ahead as public health threats and potential cyberattacks continue to loom large trib.al/Tu93oup

Climate change increases the risk of natural disasters. There are many things raising pressure on our farms and ranches, including:

🏜️ Drought
☀️ Heat
🌊 Flooding
🔥 Wildfires
🐛 Insects
⛈️ Superstorms
🌡️ Weather volatility
trib.al/Tu93oup

The time has come “for deindustrializing and decentralizing the American food system [and] breaking up the meat oligopoly,” wrote environmental author @michaelpollan.

Yet little has been done to decentralize U.S. meat production trib.al/Tu93oup

@SecVilsack, secretary of @USDA, said we’re “better off having multiple plants in multiple locations — smaller facilities to produce enough product" trib.al/Tu93oup

The Biden administration, along with state and federal lawmakers, have an urgent obligation to dismantle American meat monopolies, which have gone unchallenged and unchecked for too long trib.al/Tu93oup

The USDA can begin to mobilize a plan immediately with the $4 billion allocated for food supply chain resiliency under the American Rescue Plan Act.

Beyond grant money, smaller producers and processors need other forms of USDA support trib.al/Tu93oup

Solutions include: :

➡️ Creating dedicated roles at the USDA to help local processors build regional markets
➡️ Re-empowering the Grain Inspection, Packers and Stockyards Administration to hold large meat processors accountable trib.al/Tu93oup

In the U.S. alone ...

🥩Four processing companies slaughter more than 80% of the beef
🐽Four meatpacking companies process roughly two thirds of the nation's hogs
🍗Five companies control about 60% of the broiler chicken market trib.al/Tu93oup

The vertical integration of livestock and poultry supply chains has stifled competition and led to widespread corruption.

The Biden administration and Congress must strengthen antitrust laws so that they more clearly apply to large scale food production trib.al/Tu93oup

Interested in learning more about the global resource crunch?

💦 Read more about how California's historic dry spell is causing people to embrace "toilet-to-tap" water
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