Skip to content Skip to footer

Foodopoly: Big Agribusiness and the Monopoly on the Food Industry

From farm to fork, few things matter more than the food we eat.

From farm to fork

Truthout’s December fundraiser is our most important of the year and will determine the scale of work we will be able to do in 2026. Please support us with a tax-deductible donation today.

From farm to fork, few things matter more than the food we eat. We all want the freedom and opportunity to choose what ends up on our plate, but when a handful of companies control most of the brands you see at the grocery store, what choices are really left?

On this edition Wenonah Hauter, executive director of Food and Water Watch, author of Foodopoly, and one of the nation’s leading healthy food advocates, says it’s time to turn the tables on big agribusiness.

The top companies controlled an average of 62.8% of the sales of 100 types of groceries. In 30 categories, four or fewer companies controlled at least 75% of the sales. In six categories, the top companies sold more than 90% of the category sales, including baby formula and microwave dinners.

The charts below from foodopoly.org detail which companies control the food you eat.

Our most important fundraising appeal of the year

December is the most critical time of year for Truthout, because our nonprofit news is funded almost entirely by individual donations from readers like you. So before you navigate away, we ask that you take just a second to support Truthout with a tax-deductible donation.

This year is a little different. We are up against a far-reaching, wide-scale attack on press freedom coming from the Trump administration. 2025 was a year of frightening censorship, news industry corporate consolidation, and worsening financial conditions for progressive nonprofits across the board.

We can only resist Trump’s agenda by cultivating a strong base of support. The right-wing mediasphere is funded comfortably by billionaire owners and venture capitalist philanthropists. At Truthout, we have you.

We’ve set an ambitious target for our year-end campaign — a goal of $250,000 to keep up our fight against authoritarianism in 2026. Please take a meaningful action in this fight: make a one-time or monthly donation to Truthout before December 31. If you have the means, please dig deep.