Consolidated Control of Food Chain :
Oakland Institute USA, has released a New Policy Brief Reveals that Consolidated Control of Food Leads to Declining Food Security, Economic Health, and Labor Standards :

Facing Goliath : Challenging the Impacts of Retail Consolidation on our Local Economies, Communities, and Food SecurityThis new policy brief from the Oakland Institute exposes how corporate consolidation in food retail has put our access to a reliable supply of healthy and affordable food at risk.

The top five food retailers, which now control more than half of all grocery sales in the country, have gained unprecedented market power," said Katy Mamen, Oakland Institute Fellow and author of the Policy Brief. "As a result, cost savings garnered through increased bargaining power are generally not being passed on to the consumer, supermarkets are abandoning low-income communities where profit margins are lower, and labor standards are being forced down."

The shift from small and medium scale food stores to big box stores brings broader economic turmoil for many communities. When a retail mega-store enters a community, independent shops that serve the local community are often forced to close. New Wal-Mart stores in a community have been associated with increased poverty levels and a decline in locally owned and operated businesses.
"In the U.S., the independent business owner is held in high regard - but small businesses throughout the food supply chain, from farmers to processors to grocers are being forced out as consolidation continues, undermining the American Dream," said Mamen.

The Policy Brief teases out the architecture of change in the food supply chain, outlines some of the key impacts on local communities, and suggests strategies for bringing balance back to the food retail landscape, including:

* Developing successful and innovative regional distribution and retail models;

* Re-creating real retail diversity that includes both locally-owned outlets that source a majority of their products locally and products that are direct marketed by producers;

* Fostering locally-owned and operated retail outlets in low-income communities;

* Working to balance the public subsidy and support system, which currently disproportionately favors large supermarket chains over independent markets;

* Raising public awareness about the social, economic and environmental benefits of locally owned and operated grocery stores.

Facing Goliath : Challenging the Impacts of Retail Consolidation on our Local Economies, Communities, and Food Security is a publication of the Oakland Institute, a think tank for research, analysis, and action whose mission is to increase public participation and promote fair debate on critical social, economic, and environmental justice issues.

Requirement Number One - The very existence of contract farming will require the continued existence of the Indian farmer. The big question is, in what numbers. Lets take a guess, - 650 million farmers managing the Indian farm fields is the current scenarion. This certainly calls for some classic management expertise. That is way too many of them. So the first thing required is to reduce the number of farmers to the extent that farming at least can begin to look like farming, rather than, squatting, by farmers on agricultural land. Maybe from 650 million farmers to 20 million farmers would be the ideal scenario, we may need to build some complex data and statistical models to prove this thesis, but then if I can find a sponsor I would be willing to have a go at this project. It would keep me fit as well as also buy me that piece of land in Europe grape vine country, I always keep dreaming of.
The big problem is that somehow genocide, war and communism are fast becoming unfashionable in the present day world where small bands of terrorists are giving sleepless nights to powers that be and to the airlines and media. Everybody seems to be focused on the global fight against terror and nobody has the time to work out simple calculations on the gigantic issue of as to how the Indian farming population can be reduced from 650 million to a manageable 20 million.
The other problem, is that India happens to be a vibrant democracy, in fact, the largest democracy on earth. So the solution has to at least seem, democratic, and achieved, so to say, by political process, if not necessarily by due consensus. I am sure some bright management kids from India's top B-Schools will shortly solve this problem.