The Impact of the Global Food System on the Midwest

Growing up in Illinois, I experienced a constant view of corn and soy fields surrounding my neighborhood for miles upon miles. My Michigan-native Grandparents are farm owners, with acres of land at their doorstep. At ten years old, I assumed these fields provided steady and sustainable food sources to locals, overlooking the lack of grocery stores and produce grown for human consumption, assuming that somehow this produce made its way to my local Meijer. Food insecurity is evident in rural areas of the Midwest, even with miles of farmland at your fingertips. Despite being the United State’s most agriculturally productive region, rural regions of the Midwest face food insecurity because of the inherent nature of our globalized food system, which has led to the dominance of industrialization and simplification of agricultural methods to produce large yields for exports, corn and soybean cultivation for biofuel and livestock feed rather than human consumption, as well as corporate consolidation of the retail food industry.

The power that corporations hold over the global food system is a main contributor to why this region of arable land is experiencing food insecurity. The global food system in which we participate, with unequal power dynamics and a profit motive, is the driving force behind why one of the most agriculturally productive regions in the United States has been industrialized, ruled by monoculture, produces goods without intention for human consumption, and leaves rural residents and farmworkers with little access to nearby food sources.

Therefore, an alternative approach to agriculture and the way the Midwest participates in the global food system through localization, emphasis on small farmers, and a more agrarian approach would help to reduce the food insecurity faced by the rural Midwest.

Using my own research and different perspectives, I have concluded that an alternative approach to the way that food systems are contributed to in the Midwest is a necessary shift. An alternative approach to agriculture or involvement in the global food system could be beneficial to returning this land to locals and providing them with the ability to produce their food, rather than using industrialized methods to produce goods for export and non-human consumption, which results in unsustainable practices and inconvenience when it comes to food access.

Background

The Midwest’s roots in corn can be traced back to long before the Europeans arrived in America. The Native Americans began planting corn in Iowa because of its rich and soft soil (Clampitt 27). Settlers came across the Ohio River Valley, which was ideal for corn farming, and began planting and gaining ownership of the land. Much of the land was covered in heavy sod, which was “incapable of cultivation”, making plowing and harvesting incredibly tedious (Clampitt 29). John Deere changed this in 1837 in Illinois, with his self-cleaning steel plowshare which could easily and efficiently work the land and turn the soil into something of use for growing corn and grain (Clampitt 30). Technological advances, such as Deere’s steel plow, led to the mechanization of the agricultural sector.

Midwest farming increased exponentially following the Civil War, with farmers producing billions of bushels of grain, and about four times as much corn being produced (Clampitt 30). At this point, Kansas and Nebraska were “quickly developing into icons of rural society” (Clampitt 31). Most of the Midwest can be considered the “corn belt”; the United States' agriculturally-productive corn region, which began to be recognized in the 1700s. Simply growing corn is not necessarily what defined this region, but rather the culture revolving around “the growing of corn primarily to feed livestock” (Clampitt 32). The harvesting of corn, for this reason, had made corn a staple crop in Illinois by 1820, and in Ohio and Kentucky by 1840 (Clampitt 33). Currently, the Corn Belt is “recognized as one of the best-run, most economical, and highest-yielding farming regions in the world” because of the amount and efficiency of corn grown for livestock feed (Clampitt 33).

This has led the Midwest to where it is today. The region contains 125 million acres of agricultural land, with three-quarters of this land occupied by corn and soybean production (“Our Story”). Despite the immense amount of agricultural land and production, rural parts of the Midwest still face food insecurity. About 9.9% of the Midwest overall is food insecure (“Hunger & Poverty in America”). In specific states, this number is higher with Minnesota at 11%, and Wisconsin at 13% (Bell). Residents lack food access for a multitude of reasons, all influenced by the globalized food system, and the shift from producing for human consumption to producing for profit.

Industrialization and Globalization

Midwest agriculture has been heavily industrialized since European settlers began cultivating the land. American agriculture has changed regarding “its shifting structure, its technological sophistication, commercialization, specialization, energy-intensiveness” and more (Walzer 90). Industrialization has created a shift away from an emphasis on small farmers and the concept of producing for yourself or locally. It refers to the “transformation of agriculture from an industry that raises commodities to one that manufactures goods” (Walzer 91). In recent years, the entire world has “come to rely on a high-yielding, mechanized, capital-intensive system of agriculture and food that operates at a global scale, impacting local places around the globe unevenly” (Hendrickson et al. 3). Industrialization and technological advances have “made agriculture more specialized, disconnecting food production and consumption from particular places and their communities” (Hendrickson et al. 3).

These industrialized efforts have placed the Midwest on the global map, where crops are produced through mechanized and technologically-advanced methods to export these goods and maintain a role in the global market. The globalization of the food system has turned food from a basic human right into a “capital-intensive system” which “rewards those with access to capital and marginalizes those without it”, and is the “current social and economic structure of our agrifood system” (Hendrickson et al. 3). These impacts of a globalized food system can directly be seen in the case of the US Midwest, as globalization has dominated the agricultural sector.

The majority of crops produced in the Midwest are commodified crops grown for export, rather than for local food systems. The Midwest is the leading region regarding US exports. In 2019, U.S. agricultural exports totaled $123.9 billion, with the Midwest making up $47.8 billion of those exports (“A Regional Overview of U.S. Agriculture”). The Midwest has adopted a “production and profit” model, which fails “in important ways to represent the complex, supple, negotiated objectives of real farmers and their communities” (Scott 1999). Power is taken away from local farmers, which reduces food security and access to locally-produced food, and “when the economy of a local community or region is dependent on distant communities to supply its needs and buy its raw materials, then its own economy becomes extremely vulnerable to economic forces over which it has no control” (Olson and Bauer 86).

This can be seen in the case of North Dakota, an agriculturally-productive Midwestern state. The globalization and industrialization of agriculture, in this state, have reduced farmers to “raw materials suppliers of a few specialized commodities-primarily wheat and beef cattle” (Olson and Bauer 86). Because of this, there are “almost no local resources… devoted to producing locally needed value added products for local consumption” (Olson and Bauer 86). Free trade is what tends to make this possible, as “the land gets concentrated in the hands of large landowners, and then the land gets used to mass produce commodities for export, rather than feeding local populations” (Olson and Bauer 87). Farmers produce for profit, inherently leading to growing immense amounts of produce just to export it, rather than growing food for local consumption.

Soy and Corn

The production of corn for feeding livestock began in the early 1800s and was the main way of getting corn on the market (Clampitt 93). Pigs were the “first corn-fed animals to become commercially valuable in the United States” (Clampitt 94). The production of corn made it easy to raise pigs, making pork accessible and affordable, and in turn making corn economically viable to produce. Corn is still a commodified crop used for purposes other than for human consumption, because of the profit that farmers can make from this sector.

Corn and soybean are the Midwest’s two main commodity crops, and are grown on 75% of the region’s arable land (“Agriculture in the Midwest”). The issue with these commodified crops is that they are not produced for human consumption, but rather to feed livestock and for biofuel production. The amount of corn grown to produce ethanol in the United States has been increasing, with about 40 percent of all corn used to produce biofuel (Gewin). From 2001 to 2006, the amount of corn grown to produce ethanol tripled from 18 million tons to 55 million tons, and these numbers are still increasing (Altieri 237). Some of these crops do go towards food for human consumption but typically are used as ingredients in heavily processed foods (Stillerman). Either way, the Midwest fails to produce the variety of food that a human diet requires because of the dominance of these commodity crops.

Farmers “make higher returns from growing corn than any other major crop when yields are held at satisfactory levels” (Bottum 791). Farmers also “make higher returns per hour feeding live- stock that consumes large quantities of corn than from producing other classes of livestock” (Bottum 794). There are a few uses for corn that make growing the crop economically viable, which is why farmers turn to producing these crops for these specific uses, rather than for human consumption. More of a profit is made off feeding livestock and producing biofuel than they may make producing these crops for human consumption. Corn is the crop of choice when it comes to feeding livestock because it is “the only plant used for animal feed that can fully meet the caloric needs of large livestock” (Clampitt 92).

The production of corn for non-human consumption can be seen in South Dakota and Iowa, which “devote more than 50% of their corn to ethanol production”, leading to a “diminishing supply of corn for animal feed and human consumption” (Altieri 237).

The commodification of corn and soybean crops for biofuel and livestock feed has direct links to food insecurity. Biofuel production “also affects consumers directly by increasing the cost of food”, and “soon the price of corn, soybean, and sugarcane will be determined by their value as feedstock for biofuel rather than their importance as human food or livestock feed” (Altieri 242). The crops produced in the Midwest are not meant for human consumption due to the high returns that farmers make on these crops, and it seems as though the sector is headed towards shifting the value of these crops from human food or livestock feed to biofuel. The Midwest is the most agriculturally-productive region but produces the least amount of food available for human consumption (Stillerman).

Corporate Consolidation of the Retail Food Industry

Because produce in the Midwest is grown to be exported and for non-human consumption, much of the region relies on non-localized food. Industrialization and globalization contribute to corporate consolidation of the retail food industry, leading to food deserts and a lack of food available from local small farmers. Food deserts “frame the conditions under which disadvantaged communities and households must expend greater resources to obtain food through normal sources”, making food disproportionately difficult for rural Midwesterners to access (Morton et al. 96). It can be seen in this region that “industrialization and globalization have dramatically changed the American food system over the past century, and consolidation of the retail food industry has left some rural and inner-city areas with inadequate food resources” (Smith and Morton 176). Consolidation has led to “fewer but larger food stores”, with a dominance of corporate grocery stores including Kroger and Hy-Vee, among a few others (Redman).

This is especially seen in rural areas of the Midwest. A study has shown that “poor rural counties were found to have on average 3.8 supermarkets per county compared to 29 in urban counties” (Smith and Morton 185). Food is not distributed evenly in the Midwest, and access is reduced for those who are in need. Corporate consolidation of the retail food industry not only reduces the number of easily accessible, local grocery stores but makes the produce sold difficult to obtain and afford. The food system infrastructure of the Midwest has left residents with “limited access to a wide variety of food options… at a reasonable cost” (Smith and Morton 176). Consolidation of the retail food industry leads to an increase in food prices, limited variety in food available, and lower quality fresh produce and meat. (Smith and Morton 185).

This is seen in the case of Iowa, which lost 52.6 percent of its grocery stores between 1976 and 2000 (Morton et al. 100). Many of these grocery stores were the main sources of food access in small rural towns across the state. Almost ten percent of Iowa’s population is impoverished, and 2.8 percent are “food insecure with hunger” (Morton et al. 102). Many of these residents do not have easy access to grocery stores because of corporate consolidation and the reduction of available stores across the region and are unable to afford a trip to a grocery store to purchase healthy and high-quality produce.

Conclusion

The Midwest faces food insecurity because of its ties to the global food system. The industrialization of crops to maximize exports, production of large amounts of commodified crops for uses besides human consumption, and corporate consolidation of the retail food industry all contribute to the food insecurity that the Midwest faces today. Even with acres upon acres of arable land, and the ability to grow more produce than any other region, this region still faces trouble with food accessibility and a lack of locally-produced food. This research, along with my own experiences and ties to the Midwest, has shown me how much influence the global food system has on the region and its farmers. Many of these farmers are producing unimaginable amounts of produce to sell to large corporations or export it so that they can afford to purchase actual food for consumption. The Midwest has few direct links to its produce, as it is not used and sold locally, or even for human consumption. Because of this, the region is made to rely on corporate grocery stores, and there is little access to these because of the power that these corporations hold.

Shifts in the way that the Midwest's agricultural sector is utilized need to be made for the region to be food secure and sovereign. The food system needs to be localized and democratized, and power relations need to be reshaped so that it is in the hands of small farmers and local consumers, rather than large corporations. Power should be given to local farmers in order to make decisions on “what is produced, where, how, and by whom” (Hendrickson et al. 20). Alternatives to current food system modes can include “farmer cooperatives, urban agriculture farms, garden-based education, commons-based land ownership, fair trade or building values-based value chains that serve local and regional food systems” (Hendrickson et al. 20). Personal connections need to be made which can increase the sense of community, and food needs to be shared among those with little access. A local community social structure is important if “long-term solutions to increasing food access and reducing food insecurity are to be achieved” (Morton et al. 95). Produce should be grown for local, human consumption, rather than solely for export and for biofuel or livestock feed. Grocery stores should be localized and abundant, rather than consolidated by corporations.

Changes can be made on the state and national levels regarding public policy as well. One change is to “gradually reduce the public subsidies that support industrial agriculture and shift part of those subsidies to programs that would help farmers transition to ecologically sound farming systems” (Olson and Bauer 93). These subsidies are what help industrial agriculture to thrive, so shifting payments to smaller farmers would help them to afford to grow food for local consumption, rather than for export. It could also be beneficial to “encourage state and local governments to establish tax policies which require that a percentage of local food needs purchased with public money be purchased from local farmers” (Olson and Bauer 93). A requirement for local, public institutions and organizations to purchase a minimum amount of food from local farmers would help ensure that the food system stays localized. Farmers would receive a reliable income from local sources, which would ensure that they can keep growing and producing for local consumption.

When reforming the food system, it is important to keep in mind that “small is better than big, simple is better than complex, and local is better than distant” (Olson and Bauer 95). The global food system holds unfair power in regards to who it serves, creating injustice and insecurity, but localizing food systems and returning power to small farmers can ensure that food is accessible to all in the Midwest.

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