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"It's shameful that Americans are left food insecure and have to skip meals while corporations and their wealthy shareholders enjoy the spoils of supersized profits under unjustified price hikes."
As the U.S. government on Wednesday released its latest inflation report, the watchdog Accountable.US put out a new analysis detailing how Americans face food insecurity while major food corporations are padding their profits with price hikes.
"Big Food's staggering increase in earnings shows they did not need to raise prices so high on consumers but did so anyway to maximize record profits," said Liz Zelnick, director of Economic Security and Corporate Power at Accountable.US, in a statement.
"It's shameful that Americans are left food insecure and have to skip meals while corporations and their wealthy shareholders enjoy the spoils of supersized profits under unjustified price hikes," she added. "It's clear that the food industry will not hold itself accountable. It's time Congress do more to rein in corporate greed, one of the main factors currently driving up costs for families."
"It's time Congress do more to rein in corporate greed, one of the main factors currently driving up costs for families."
The Accountable.US report takes aim at General Mills, Kraft Heinz, and Mondelez—three of the top "at home" food companies in the United States based on market capitalization—focusing on January through March, the first quarter of this calendar year.
General Mills is one of a few companies that dominate the U.S. breakfast cereal market, with brands including Cocoa Puffs, Cookie Crisp, and Lucky Charms. Kraft Heinz is known for not only ketchup and macaroni and cheese but also Jell-O, Kool-Aid, and Philadelphia Cream Cheese. Mondelez's top brands include Chips Ahoy! and belVita.
The companies' combined net earnings for the quarter rose by 51% year-over-year (YoY) to a combined $3.47 billion, and the trio collectively spent over $1.3 billion on shareholder dividends, Accountable.US found. Of the three, only General Mills saw its earnings drop from the first three months of 2022 to the same period in 2023—though the company still spent more on dividends this year compared with last year.
The first three months of this calendar year were the third quarter of General Mills' 2023 fiscal year. Accountable.US cited Reuters' March 23 report that the company "raised its fiscal 2023 forecasts for a fourth time after beating estimates for quarterly results, helped by price increases and steady demand for its packaged-food products."
The watchdog also highlighted that General Mills "saw its net earnings increase by nearly $2 billion YoY for the first nine months of FY 2023, as the company spent over $2.16 billion on its shareholders through a combination of dividends and stock buybacks."
For Kraft Heinz, the watchdog referenced Reutersreporting earlier this month that it "raised its full-year profit forecast on Wednesday on the back of higher prices and sustained demand for its packaged food items." The analysis adds that the company "saw its Q1 2023 net income increase by 7.1% YoY to $837 million and spent $491 million on shareholder dividends."
Accountable.US noted that during the first quarter of this year, "Mondelez—which touted price hikes for its double-digit increases in revenue and earnings—returned $928 million to shareholders through a combination of dividends and stock buybacks, after reporting $2.1 billion in profits, a 143% increase from last year."
\u201cAs the #Fed mulls even more rate hikes, #Powell needs to finally recognize rate hikes will do NOTHING to address the MAIN driver of inflation: corporate greed. Rate hikes will only put more banks on the brink of collapse and risk massive unemployment. https://t.co/y2JIqScCUM\u201d— Ryan Summers (@Ryan Summers) 1683728189
The group used its new analysis to call out the Federal Reserve, saying that "the findings are the most recent evidence that while inflation is slowing, the Fed's single-minded policy of repeated interest rate hikes [is] doing little to contain the primary driver of rising costs—corporate greed."
The report also emphasizes recent admissions from economists that corporate greed is driving inflation—which progressive organizations and experts have been stressing for months in response to the Fed's interest rate hikes.
As the analysis points out, The Wall Street Journalreported earlier this month:
Consumers have... been unusually willing to accept higher prices lately. Paul Donovan, chief economist at UBS Global Wealth Management, said businesses are betting that consumers will go along because they know about supply bottlenecks and higher energy prices.
"They are confident that they can convince consumers that it isn't their fault, and it won't damage their brand," Mr. Donovan said.
According to the consumer price index report released Wednesday by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, "the food at home index fell 0.2%" from March to April. While cereals and bakery products saw a slight increase, there were decreases for milk; nonalcoholic beverages; fruits and vegetables; and meats, poultry, fish, and eggs.
However, the bureau's report also provides context from the past year: "The food at home index rose 7.1% over the last 12 months. The index for cereals and bakery products rose 12.4% over the 12 months ending in April. The remaining major grocery store food groups posted increases ranging from 2.0% (fruits and vegetables) to 10.4% (other food at home)."
The Accountable.US analysis notes that in January and February, "food-equity advocates warned that 'food insecurity for millions of American consumers is worsening' despite overall inflation easing, with higher numbers of food stamp recipients reporting 'skipping meals, eating less, and going to food banks to manage costs.'"
The U.S. Census Bureau has estimated throughout 2023 that based on household surveys, roughly 25 million people sometimes or often did not have enough to eat in the previous seven days. The U.S. Department of Agriculture reports that nearly 34 million people live in food-insecure households—though research published last month suggests that figure is likely an undercount.
Additionally, food insecurity figures don't provide a full picture of how many families struggle to stay fed, as Claire Babineaux-Fontenot, CEO of food bank network Feeding America, explained to CNN in March: "The nuance is that some people are not 'food insecure' because they get access to the charitable food system. That doesn't mean they're able to achieve self-sufficiency."
U.S. households are also contending with losing assistance related to the Covid-19 pandemic—including the end of the expanded child tax credit, universal free school meals, and increased Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits, formerly known as food stamps.
As Common Dreams reported in late February, while experts warned that the end to boosted SNAP benefits would cause a rise in U.S. poverty, Public Citizen president Robert Weissman declared that "a decent society would not let this happen."
The announcement by Donald Trump that that United States intends to ignore the non-binding Paris Climate Agreement, with the intention to renegotiate it to foist his America First policy on the rest of the world, should come as no surprise to anyone. What is surprising is who opposed the US withdrawal: Big business - including fossil fuel transnationals Exxon Mobil, Chevron, and BP, industrial agribusiness and agrochemical giants Monsanto, DuPont, and General Mills, and more, as well as the current Secretary of State (and former Exxon exec). If nothing else, this assortment of big-business boosters of the Paris Agreement tells us just how weak the agreement truly is at addressing the root causes of climate change.
Since Kyoto, the US has diluted every global climate proposal to the point of ineffectiveness, including the Copenhagen Accord in 2009 and the Paris Agreement itself. It was the US that insisted on making the deal based on non-binding pledges for voluntary emissions cuts (which collectively would still lead to a global temperature increase between 3-4degC above pre-industrial levels), on preventing the operating text of the agreement from including recognition of human rights and the rights of Indigenous Peoples, and on promoting many false solutions that will end up doing a great deal of harm (including so-called "carbon neutrality," which allows polluters to keep polluting by purchasing offsets).
These realities, combined with Trump's claims that the Paris Agreement would somehow be an unfair burden on the US, are particularly disturbing, embarrassing, and even enraging, given the responsibility that the US has as being the most historically responsible for the causes of climate change, and our continued role as one of the most significant contributors of greenhouse gas emissions in the world.
"By abandoning the Paris Agreement, this administration will further perpetuate environmental racism and climate injustice against Indigenous Peoples experiencing the worst effects of climate change across the globe...Backing out of this agreement continues a long history of broken promises and threatens the vital and sacred life cycles of Mother Earth." - Tom Goldtooth, Indigenous Environmental Network
It is clear that major transnational corporations played a large role in influencing the US's role in negotiating the Paris agreement. Indeed, Bloomberg news reports that Exxon and Conoco-Phillips supported the Paris agreement based on the argument that "The U.S. is better off with a seat at the table so it can influence global efforts to curb emissions that are largely produced by the fossil fuels they profit from."
At Grassroots International, we are reflecting on four key lessons and priorities for climate justice work going forward:
In the US, communities organized through the Climate Justice Alliance (CJA), Grassroots Global Justice Alliance (GGJ), Indigenous Environmental Network (IEN) and others are taking leadership to articulate Just Transition agendas at the local level, and they are winning! These agendas include pushing for an end to the extractive economy, and transitioning to regenerative, local, living, loving, linked economies. These economies include community land trusts, agroecology, local seed libraries, and other strategies to achieve food sovereignty They include expansion of public transit and community controlled renewable energy, along with protection of rivers and ecosystems.
These are the struggles that have won and will continue to win real reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, while building community resilience to the impacts of climate change. In fact, the same day that Trump announced pulling the US from the Paris Agreement, Asian Pacific Environmental Network (APEN) announced an amazing victory in Richmond, California - a historic cap on pollution from oil refineries, which will prevent Bay Area refineries from bringing Tar Sands or other extreme and heavy crudes to be processed.
It is clear that we are in a unique and critical moment in the history of the planet. Through our Climate Justice Initiative and beyond, Grassroots International is committed to continuing to prioritize our work to support and accompany climate justice struggles in the US, with GGJ, CJA, and others, and with our partners leading climate justice movements in the Global South.
Following ongoing legal pressure from campaign groups and the Washington State Attorney General's office, pro-GMO trade group the Grocery Manufacturers Association released a list of high rolling donors to their campaign aimed at blocking GMO labeling in the state.
As was expected, major food corporations and GMO users such as PepsiCo, Nestle USA, The Coca-Cola Co. and General Mills, among many others, had secretly donated millions of dollars to the GMA campaign to stop Washington Initiative 522, which would require the labeling of all products containing GMOs if passed in November.
Additionally, as Mark Kastel of the Cornucopia Institute stated, "Consumers might be surprised to find out that some of their favorite organic and natural brands, hiding behind their lobbyist, the Grocery Manufacturers Association, are contributing bushel baskets of cash towards thwarting their right to make informed choices in the supermarket." That list includes brands such as Santa Cruz Organic, Green and Black's Organic, and Burt's Bees.
Campaign groups Moms for Labeling and Yes on I-522 as well as Washington State Attorney General Bob Ferguson were engaged in legal battles with the GMA for soliciting money from its members specifically for the anti-GMO-labeling campaign while illegally concealing the identity of those donors from the public.
The state's Attorney General's Office and the Grocery Manufacturers Association both announced the deal to disclose the finances early Friday morning, one day after Ferguson filed suit. The Washington State Public Disclosure Commission released the list shortly after.
"The people of Washington demand transparency in elections," Ferguson said in a news release. "I'm pleased the GMA board recognized their responsibility to disclose the names of companies who contributed to opposing Initiative 522, and the amount of their contributions."
The GMA, the biggest processed food trade group in the U.S., set a record this year for the most money ever raised by a single group in Washington state to fight a public initiative--over $7 million so far. Over $17 million has been spent in the No on I-522 campaign in total, with most of that money coming from biotech companies.
The following is the list of the companies and their contributions in the GMA's filing:
* PepsiCo: $1,620,899
* Nestle USA: $1,052,743
* The Coca-Cola Co.: $1,047,332
* General Mills: $598,819
* ConAgra Foods: $285,281
* Campbell Soup Co.: $265,140
* The Hershey Co.: $248,305
* The J.M. Smucker Co.: $241,091
* Kellogg Co.: $221,852
* Mondelez Global LLC: $144,895
* Flowers Foods: $141,288
* Abbott Nutrition: $127,459
* Pinnacle Foods Group LLC: $120,846
* Dean Foods Co.: $120,245
* McCormick & Co.: $102,208
* Land O'Lakes: $99,803
* Cargill: $98,601
* The Hillshire Brands Co.: $97,398
* Bunge North America: $94,993
* Bimbo Bakeries USA: $94,693
* Del Monte Foods Co.: $86,576
* Ocean Spray Cranberries: $55,313
* Hormel Foods Corp.: $52,908
* Bumble Bee Foods, LLC: $36,073
* Welch Foods: $28,859
* Shearer's Foods: $25,251
* Rich Products Corp.: $24,049
* Clement Pappas & Co.: $21,043
* Sunny Delight Beverages Co.: $21,043
* Bush Brothers & Co.: $16,233
* Knouse Foods Cooperative: $14,429
* The Clorox Co.: $12,024
* Bruce Foods Corp.: $3,006
* Moody Dunbar: $1,804
Click on the poster image below of campaign donors in the fight for I-522 so far, created by the Cornucopia Institute, to view a larger version:
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