Concentrate of Agro-Power
Impersonal aisles with flashy packages, endless rows of strangers and fake smiles, and bored employees that don't know anything about what they are selling – isn't there a better way to get our food?

Supermarkets are on the top of the food chain and have an enormous influence on the way our food is produced, processed, and sold and the way we deal with each other in our daily life. They make their own standards and conditions. Due to their centralised distribution and marketing strategies they are able to demand huge quantities of products with the same shape, size, and taste, preferably twelve months a year. For small farmers or small independent brands, it is next to impossible to fulfill these requirements. A food company cannot introduce a new product if it cannot convince supermarkets to display it on their shelves.

In order to attract customers, supermarkets want to lower their prices. This dictating of the price puts pressure on the suppliers. In turn, the suppliers put pressure on the processors, and this play continues all through the production chain until the small farmers and farm workers. They are the only ones who cannot shove off the price reductions, which is putting lots of farmers out of business.

This growing influence of supermarkets on our lives seems to go by unnoticed. Still, it is possible to stop this growing monopoly. You can support small independent shopholders and join (or start) producer-consumer food cooperatives that cut out the wholesalers and supermarket chains. This reduces transport, as food cooperative most often buy straight from local producers. It also improves the understanding for how your food is produced. Between the field and the plate there doesn't have to be a Carrefour, Lidl, Aldi, Tesco or Albert Heijn.

Further reading: What's Wrong With Supermarkets www.corporatewatch.org/?lid=1910