The state's role in corporate capture of our food systems

Corporate power and dominance are not only reinforced by markets.

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Structural glitch: In a policy environment that supports and promotes large-scale production at the exclusion of small-scale farmers, food wastage becomes a norm. Photo: Foerster via Wikimedia Commons

(Foerster via Wikimedia Commons)

Legislative and policy choices by the state enable access for some while marginalising others, who often constitute small-scale and subsistence farmers.

For example, food safety and certification regulations under laws such as the Agricultural Product Standards Act (119 of 1990) and the Perishable Products Export Control Act (9 of 1983) impose costly compliance obligations that favour industrialised supply chains.

Analysts have critiqued the rules as systematically exclusionary of small-scale producers from higher-value markets.

This position, while recognising the importance of public procurement rules and food safety standards, nevertheless notes that these often require volumes and compliance costs that small-scale producers struggle to meet, further entrenching large suppliers' dominance.

As a matter of principle, a policy approach that prioritises efficiency and price stability over structural transformation does not merely tolerate concentration; it can inadvertently reproduce it.

Egregiously, in a policy environment that supports and promotes large-scale production at the exclusion of small-scale farmers, food wastage becomes a norm.