Crisis in the Food System: The Paradox of the Empty Plate

Exploring the Invisible Forces Surrounding Our Dining Tables, Starting from the Price of a Bunch of Green Onions

• The invisible power structures dominating the global food system
• The impact of climate change and financialization on our tables
• Exploring alternatives for a sustainable future such as local food and food tech

The Crisis at the Table Begins with a Bunch of Green Onions

In spring 2021, many shoppers stopped in front of the price tag for a bunch of green onions at the supermarket. A staggering 341.8% price surge compared to the previous year revealed not just a simple price hike but structural problems in our food system. The emergence of the neologism “par-tech” symbolized the pain that soaring grocery prices inflicted on households.

The problem did not stop at green onions. Prices of apples and eggs rose by 91.3%, and chicken by 33.3%. This indicated that beyond poor harvests of specific items, structural issues surrounding our dining tables were festering and bursting.

While the media talks about global economic growth, the reality we feel is poverty at the table. This paradox is supported by statistics. Taking the average price index of OECD member countries as 100, South Korea’s food price index is 151, second only to Switzerland. This is overwhelmingly higher compared to the US (94), Germany (107), and Japan (126).

The Bank of Korea pointed out that high living costs are a major obstacle to consumption recovery and suggested solutions such as “deregulation and lowering market entry barriers” and “diversifying raw material import sources.” This implicitly acknowledges the structural vulnerability of the current food system, which is monopolistic and overly dependent on specific supply chains.

This article follows the question that began with a bunch of green onions, tracing the identity of the invisible forces that make our tables impoverished, and explores innovative alternatives to reclaim food sovereignty.

Who Controls Our Tables: The Architects of the Giant Food System

Global food supply is largely controlled by two corporate empires. One is the invisible foundation controlling grain flows, and the other is the visible superstructure of brands dominating supermarket shelves. Together, they support each other and form the power structure of the modern food system.

The Invisible Grain Empire, ABCD

Almost every stage of the journey of wheat and corn—the raw materials for bread and noodles on our tables—is controlled by four giant companies: Archer Daniels Midland (ADM), Bunge, Cargill, and Louis Dreyfus Company (LDC). Known collectively as the ‘ABCD’ companies, they hold a duopoly controlling 70–90% of global grain trade. Just as ‘Big Tech’ dominates the IT industry, these ‘Big Ag’ companies hold the flow of world food.

Recently, each has pursued distinct strategies based on their strengths.

• ADM: Value-Centered Strategist

  

  ADM is shifting from traditional grain trading to a portfolio of high value-added products such as nutrition and bio-solutions. Through ADM Ventures, it aggressively invests in food tech startups to secure future technologies.
• Bunge: Scale-Centered Purist

  

  Bunge took a straightforward approach by merging with Viterra to secure overwhelming scale in its core agricultural business. It aims to dominate the market through dominance in core areas rather than expanding scope.
• Cargill: Diversified Giant

  

  As the largest private company in the US, Cargill creates synergy by integrating digital technology and sustainability into its vast business portfolio. Investments in regenerative agriculture and supply chain decarbonization turn sustainability into new business opportunities.
• Louis Dreyfus Company (LDC): Modernizing Trader

  

  Leveraging capital secured through a partnership with Abu Dhabi’s sovereign wealth fund ADQ, LDC is expanding investments in processing sectors such as juice and plant-based proteins, aiming to transform into a comprehensive food company.

The New Leviathan: Bunge-Viterra Merger and the Era of Mega Consolidation

The July 2025 completion of the Bunge and Viterra merger deepens the oligopoly structure. The $18 billion deal fundamentally changed the landscape of the global grain market.

Canada’s competition authority warned that the merger is “likely to reduce competition in the grain and canola markets.” The merged company controls about 40% of Canada’s grain market, forcing farmers to accept unfavorable prices due to fewer buyer options. One study estimated Canadian grain producers could lose about CAD 770 million annually as a result.

This is not just a market share issue but a shift to a logistics-based power structure controlling physical infrastructure, securing structural pricing power over both farmers and buyers.

The Brand Empire: How Big Food Conquered Supermarkets

If the grain empire is the invisible foundation, ‘Big Food’ is the dazzling superstructure built on top. A few multinational corporations like Nestlé, PepsiCo, and Coca-Cola control over 50% of the global food and beverage market.

Their success owes to technological innovations like canning and pasteurization, and conceptual innovation of the ‘brand.’ Henry J. Heinz gave anonymous industrial products trustworthiness with transparent glass bottles and the slogan “57 varieties,” opening the door to mass consumption.

Today’s supermarket shelves show an illusion of diversity. Hundreds of brands are actually owned by a handful of parent companies. This structure reveals the symbiotic relationship between Big Food and the ABCD grain empire. Big Food uses cheap raw materials supplied by ABCD (e.g., high-fructose corn syrup) to make ultra-processed foods, adding brands and marketing to create enormous added value. This system is the core engine behind the ‘paradox of the empty plate.’

Shaking Supply Chains: Cracks in the Global Food System

The modern food system, built on ultra-efficiency and globalization, inherently contains vulnerabilities. Finance, geopolitics, climate, and ethical issues expose cracks in the system, threatening our tables.

The Giant Food Casino: Financialization and Geopolitical Weaponization

Food is no longer just a survival necessity but a financial asset. Deregulation in the early 2000s allowed massive financial capital to enter the food futures market, triggering the 2007-2008 global food price crisis.

Beyond real economic factors, speculation by financial capital caused food prices to skyrocket, sparking ‘food riots’ in over 30 countries worldwide. In Haiti, the government collapsed due to the international rice price surge.

Food also became a geopolitical weapon. In July 2023, when India—the world’s largest rice exporter—banned exports, global rice supply chains froze and prices soared to a 15-year high. This poses a direct threat to South Korea, whose grain self-sufficiency rate is only about 20.9%. The long supply chains and just-in-time production methods have effectively eliminated resilience.

Boiling Earth, Sick Tables

Climate change is altering the price and quality of our food. The IPCC warns that in the worst case, global agricultural productivity could drop by 50% within a decade.

• The End of the Mediterranean ‘Liquid Gold’?: Severe drought caused Spain, the world’s largest olive oil producer, to see production drop by over 55%, with prices nearly tripling.
• The Lost National Side Dish, East Sea Squid: Rising sea temperatures in the East Sea caused squid catches to plummet by over 93% compared to the 2000s, turning it into a ‘golden squid.’
• Threatened Global Favorite Foods: By 2050, suitable coffee growing areas may shrink by 50%, and a 2°C temperature rise could render 70% of major wine regions unsuitable for grape cultivation.

The True Cost of Superfoods: Violence, Exploitation, Environmental Destruction

Cracks in the global food system are also severe ethically.

• ‘Blood Avocado’: In Michoacán, Mexico—the world’s largest avocado producer—drug cartels extort farmers and plunge the region into civil conflict.
• The Scars Left by Palm Oil: Massive tropical rainforest destruction for palm oil plantations displaces indigenous peoples and perpetuates labor exploitation.
• Slavery at Sea: Demand for cheap seafood leads to overfishing and serious human rights abuses including forced labor and violence against migrant workers.

These hidden costs, never reflected in price tags, prove how a system focused solely on efficiency and profit leaves deep wounds on humans and nature.

Poverty Amid Abundance: Betrayal of Taste and Nutrition

The crisis at our tables goes beyond price hikes to a decline in the fundamental ‘quality’ of food, alongside the paradox of unimaginable food waste.

The Tragedy of Tasteless Tomatoes: Hidden Nutrient Loss

Tomatoes in supermarkets taste bland because varieties have been bred prioritizing yield and durability for long-distance transport over flavor and nutrition. ‘Gas tomatoes’ harvested green and artificially ripened with ethylene gas skip natural flavor development.

More serious is the ‘genetic dilution effect’ causing nutrient loss. Focusing only on yield increase, fruits and vegetables have grown larger but vitamin and mineral density has diluted. From 1950 to 1999, six key nutrients significantly declined in 43 types of fruits and vegetables, with vitamin B2 (riboflavin) dropping by 38%.

The Lie of Perfect Shapes: Mountains of Food Wasted

Behind the food crisis lies shocking waste. In 2022, one-third of all food produced globally—about 1.05 billion tons—was discarded. This equals wasting 1 billion meals every day.

A large portion is ‘ugly produce’ discarded simply for imperfect appearance. Challenging this contradiction is ‘food upcycling.’ Korean startup ‘ReHarvest’ creates alternative flour from beer byproduct ‘spent grain,’ generating both environmental value and economic profit. This circular model turning waste into new value is a hopeful attempt to break the cycle of waste.

Planting the Future: Efforts to Reclaim Food Sovereignty

Even before huge problems, hope sprouts. Meaningful efforts to heal the broken food system and reclaim sovereignty at our tables are emerging worldwide.

The Power of Proximity: The Local Food Revolution

The antidote to the global food system is ‘closeness,’ i.e., local food.

• Local Food Direct Markets: Yongjin Nonghyup in Wanju County, Jeonbuk—called the ‘Mecca of Korean Local Food’—builds trust by branding producers’ names and faces, generating hundreds of billions of won in annual sales.
• Community Supported Agriculture (CSA): Consumers pre-purchase part of a farm’s annual production, providing farmers stable funding and consumers healthy food. The Nonsan Young Farmers Cooperative in Chungnam makes agriculture a joyful community experience through CSA.

I personally visit nearby direct markets on weekends to buy seasonal produce, and ingredients bought after seeing the producer’s face taste and feel more trustworthy. How about you? These local food models do more than change distribution—they restore social relationships through trust and solidarity.

Farms of Tunnels and Towers: The Promise of AgriTech

Smart farms combined with advanced technology are sparking a new agricultural revolution in forgotten urban spaces. Korea’s ‘NextOn’ converted a disused highway tunnel in Okcheon, Chungbuk, into one of the world’s largest indoor vertical farms.

The tunnel’s stable internal temperature drastically cut heating and cooling energy costs, reducing electricity use to one-third. NextOn is growing beyond this to become a tech solution company that ‘sells farms themselves,’ exporting technology to desert climates in the Middle East and cold Canada, turning Korea’s weaknesses into global competitiveness.

Adaptation of the Empire: Big Ag’s Food Tech Strategy

Giant corporations are also securing future dominance of the food system through strategic investments in food tech. ADM and Cargill invest in innovative startups in alternative proteins and cultured meat via venture capital, integrating them into their vast supply chains.

This is a strategy where the empire does not collapse but absorbs disruptors to control the pace of change and maintain future market dominance. Therefore, future food policy must include not only fostering innovation but also fair trade policies to prevent technology monopolization by a few giant companies.

Comparison/Alternatives: New Food System Models

Conclusion

Starting from the question, “Why does my table become impoverished while the world grows richer?” we confirmed that the root cause lies not in food shortage but in a ‘broken food system’ designed for profit.

• Key Summary 1: The problem is the system. Monopoly by a few giant companies, financialization, and geopolitical vulnerabilities are structural problems threatening our tables.
• Key Summary 2: Invisible threats. Climate change and industrial agriculture damage not only food prices but also nutritional value, causing massive waste.
• Key Summary 3: Solutions are close by. Hope lies in local food, food upcycling, and agri-tech—regional communities and innovative technologies.

Every choice we make is a vote. When we use local food, open our wallets for ugly produce, and support innovative companies, we can finally change the flow of the giant system.

Ultimately, the fork is not just a tool for eating but the most powerful and everyday tool for choosing the future we want. Tonight, what future will you choose with your fork?