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Experts warn that Strait of Hormuz fertilizer and fuel blockage could lead to a global food crisis

Submitted by Ronnie Hall on

One third of synthetic fertilizers and one quarter of the world’s seaborne oil trade pass through the Strait of Hormuz every day - two essential inputs for the industrial food chain.
The escalating conflict in the Middle East is setting alarm bells ringing once again, and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz is already shaking global trade. Food production and prices could be next.

 

According to experts from ETC Group (Action Group on Erosion, Technology and Concentration), the commercial food model is so vulnerable that this blockage could drive up food prices, leading to a global food crisis. Researchers are therefore issuing an urgent call to strengthen local food systems based on food sovereignty and agroecology.

Grain Traders, Greed and Oligopoly Power

Submitted by Ronnie Hall on

New research confirms that ag commodity traders sit at the pinnacle of the industrial food chain, influencing how, where and when a staggering volume of commercially traded food is grown, who grows it and under what conditions.

The full report and a summary version can be downloaded below.

Art: @andre_m_medina

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Agricultural Commodity Traders are complex, highly diversified global firms that operate in all phases of industrial food production and trade, from origination and storage to processing, marketing, financing and investment, and risk management. 

Related Issues: 
Corporate Concentration
Related Fora: 
Food and Agriculture: FAO, CGIAR, CFS

What does data justice mean for African small-holder farmers?

Submitted by Ronnie Hall on

A critical analysis of biodigital technologies and their expanding role in food and agriculture. Central to the authors' argument is the question of who ultimately stands to benefit from this so-called “fourth agricultural revolution."
Participants engaging in the “Narratives of Power Building” session, exploring perceptions of technological power and progress in relation to Africa’s food systems

This article was written by Matthew Canfield, Sabrina Masinjila, Barbara Ntambirweki, and was originally published by Agroecology Now. Central to the authors' argument is the question of who ultimately stands to benefit from this so-called “fourth agricultural revolution.” They contend, first and foremost, that data justice must be grounded in the lived experiences and livelihoods of food producers.

AI's Large Looting Models? The Emerging Generative Biology Stack as the Next Frontier of Biopiracy

Submitted by Ronnie Hall on

Generative Biology (GenBio) is the use of generative AI to redesign genomes, proteins, RNA and metabolic pathways. Promoted as a transformative solution for health, food, and climate challenges, its greatest value may lie in serving the AI industry itself

This report sheds light on an emergent field: Generative Biology (GenBio), the application of generative AI to redesign genomes, proteins, RNA, and metabolic pathways. GenBio is expanding at extraordinary speed, propelled by Big Tech and venture capital, with pharmaceuticals as its primary market and growing applications across agriculture, materials, and energy.

Commons to Code: How Platforms Rewire Agriculture and Reshape Power

Submitted by Ronnie Hall on

This case study examines the rise of digitised, data-dependent agriculture, focusing on Bayer's Climate FieldView as a prime example of how agribusiness and technology companies are reshaping food systems

This study maps the flow of agricultural data, from data generation on farms to storage, processing and monetisation, showing how each stage is integrated into infrastructures and contractual regimes controlled by companies. Through this flow, farmers' practices, environments and knowledge are translated into private data flows, reinforcing platform lock-in, algorithmic governance and financialisation.

Related Issues: 
Farmers' Rights & Food Sovereignty
Related Fora: 
Food and Agriculture: FAO, CGIAR, CFS

Organizations denounce Carbon Markets ahead of COP30

Submitted by Veronica Villa on

55 movements and organizations from 14 Latin American and Caribbean countries published a powerful MANIFESTO rejecting carbon markets and defending territories against an avalanche of projects that are causing damage throughout the region

On October 29, 55 movements and organizations from 14 Latin American and Caribbean countries published a powerful MANIFESTO rejecting carbon markets and defending territories against an avalanche of projects that are causing damage throughout the region. This manifesto challenges COP30 of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), which will begin in the first week of November with high-level meetings.

Declaration: Pan-African Convening on The Future of Biodigital Technologies in Food and Agriculture

Submitted by Ronnie Hall on

Emerging Technologies • Ecological and Cultural Erosion • Global Governance • Corporate Concentration

We, participants of the First Pan-African Convening on the Future of Biodigital Technologies in Food and Agriculture, held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, from 2–4 October 2025, and co-organized by the Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa (AFSA) and African Technology Assessment Platform (AfriTAP) and the ETC Group, gathered in a landmark event to confront the challenges and possibilities posed by emerging digital technologies.

Related Issues: 
Technology Assessment

Optimism is back! 3rd Nyeleni Global Forum update

Submitted by Ronnie Hall on

Creating a new pathway to global systemic transformation from the ground up

As the 3rd Nyéléni Global Forum in Sri Lanka draws to a close, it’s exciting to reflect on the fact that this country - inhabited and loved by its people from coast to coast, and home to some of the world’s most biodiverse, verdant and abundant forests, rivers and wetlands - is also poised to become the birthplace of a new global meta-movement of social movements committed to bringing health and vitality back to the planet’s communities, countries and climate.

ETC Group reinvigorates its quest to track emerging technologies and scrutinise corporate concentration

Submitted by Ronnie Hall on

Following its 2025 AGM, ETC Group’s Board and Staff met for four days in Madrid, in early August, to build a new plan of action, laser-focused on challenging corporate concentration and tech ‘broligarchy’ chauvinism
ETC Group board and staff group photo, Plaza Mayor, Madrid

We see a gathering tsunami of emerging (and converging) corporate technologies being super-charged by increasingly rapid developments in digital/AI, bioengineering and geoengineering technologies. The new corporate constellation of a few men with vast personal wealth operating within the existing hegemonic capitalist financial system is also being used to influence key governmental policy-making spaces, sidelining democratic processes and excluding civil society.

AfriTAP Webinar Exposes the Growing Threat of Biodigital Technologies to Africa’s Food Sovereignty

Submitted by Ronnie Hall on

AfriTAP, AFSA and ETC’s online webinar on “Understanding Biodigital Technologies: A Global Overview and Impact on Food Systems” was led by Jim Thomas of Scan the Horizon

Webinar link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PAN3cYNMNmY

African Leadership Rejects Solar Geoengineering at AMCEN20

Submitted by Ronnie Hall on

As the African Ministerial Conference on the Environment draws to a close in Nairobi, climate justice movements are celebrating the leadership of African governments in rejecting dangerous solar geoengineering technologies.

18 July, 2025

Nairobi, Kenya

As the 20th African Ministerial Conference on the Environment (AMCEN20) comes to an end, climate justice groups and movements are celebrating African governments continued  leadership in rejecting dangerous solar geoengineering technologies.

Victory at AMCEN!

Submitted by Ronnie Hall on

African countries unanimously reject Solar Radiation Management

African ministers made history in Nairobi today, at the 20th Ordinary Session of the African Ministerial Conference on the Environment (AMCEN), when they agreed to a text forcefully rejecting SRM and calling for a solar geoengineering Non-Use Agreement.

This is a huge win for Africa! The text was adopted without any challenge from African countries.

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