Langs theoretical framework is centered upon the evolution of a strong retailer in food issues, effectively delinking producers from consumers, shaping consumer tastes, deciding distribution and technology for production and flexible specialization in food production. Koc (2009: 323-335) contributes his perspective on the food crisis issue concurring that economics plays an pivotal role as it is the backbone of current global food system. Establishment of capitalism accompanied by shifts in power among the societal strata is to blame for the food situation that results in crisis. Koc explains a duo-pronged scenario behind the food crisis. These are: protectionist tendencies revolving around monocultures, just-in-time production, niche products, flexible specialization, marketing and profit-informed distribution among others. Secondly, there is the shift in power from the nation-state to corporate enhanced by multinationals and trade and financial organizations which result in wrestling of control of the agri-food sector from the diffuse non-corporate world to few corporate ventures. Moreira (2010: 134-148) also augments the role of economic perspective in food production and distribution in the context of globalization. Moreira explains that a commodity systems model in light of globalization has resulted in competitive advantage going to transnational corporate ventures. This gives them remarkable political and economic leverage power creating oligopolies in the food chain, especially in distribution and retail. Evidence of the Corporate-dependent Food Model Role in the Recent Food Crisis The previous section highlights the central role that corporate inclination in the food system has played in maintaining situations of hunger independent of volume of production as exhibited by mass production, globalization and other processes. To build upon this theoretical perspective, empirical evidence in a historical context needs to be generated. The first empirical piece of evidence is drawn from Cooke and Robles (2009: 3-31) who conducted a time series empirical approach from 2002-2009 to investigate changes in food item prices and relationship to the explanations given to the recent food crisis. From their month to month quantitative analysis, the researchers make striking findings that discount half-truths and exaggerations about the food crisis. For example, the prices of soybeans during the period of investigation fell with increasing oil prices. They provide extensive data on production, demand and prices, indicating that food shortages were not due to decreased production. The prevailing evidence from empirical analysis is that financial activity in future markets and speculation heavily contributed to the food price changes that drove the recent food crisis. This directly backs the theoretical basis of this study that the food sector has undergone commodification into a market item like any other product under the current global food system. Heady, Maliyandi and Fan (2009: 2-3) support the view that shift in the use of corn to bio-fuel was a primary cause of the recent food crisis that peaked in 2008. In the USA, a reaction to the pre-2008 oil price spikes was the emphasis on biofuels, which then led to corn consumption for biofuels rising to a hugely significant 30% of the total production. In 2005-2007, biofuels accounted for 60% shift in demand on global grains produced with nearly 90% of this being due to the USA alone. The consequence of this is not only shortage of grains for human consumption but also increased prices, especially when taking into consideration that grains are the staple food for millions of individuals around the world. Baltzer, Hansen and Lind (2008: 1-34) first reckoned that the recent food crisis was not as a result of shortage of food production but was instead a consequence of restricted access resulting from high prices that weed out majority of consumers who cannot keep up with market forces. It is not also not an isolated case since similar patterns can be observed previously especially during the 1974 food crisis to which several similarities can be drawn all pointing at market forces precipitating a food crisis. This confirms the theoretical bearing of this study. The researchers deduced that global production of cereals has been increasing at about 26 million tons annually. Besides, the total grain production expressed per population gives impressive 2809 calories per person pre-2008 hence the problem is essentially in distribution and access. The data analyzed supports the view that production is sufficient. This problem occurs at the point of distribution where few but strong retailers decide where the produced grain will head. The figures analyzed indicate increased use of grains in animal feeding which supports the view that retailers channel grains to reap from the populations in emerging economies which are shifting towards meat consumption. Heady and Fans (2008: 3-34) study at the height of the recent food crisis explored several themes that point to a situation in which the various explanations behind the food crisis bore different weight in its causation. The factors for the crisis were also to a large extent interrelated but all point to economic considerations playing the central role. They analyzed data on grain prices in a historical context (1960-2008) and weighed the contribution of productivity, weather, demand, hoarding, speculation, interest rates, stocks and biofuel demands. Their study established that productivity and demand were not significant players in the crisis since the implicated countries were largely self-sufficient. However, diversion grain production to biofuels and depreciation of major currencies were found to be key contributors to the crisis. Moreover, it was observed that the rising food prices were not accompanied by improved economic fortunes amongst the producers especially the small scale ones. This indicates the shift in power from producers to corporate retailers. The Recent Food Crisis and Obesity In an interesting twist, data from the CDC indicate that besides suffering economically, the small subsistence farmers from the southern states in the USA are also the ones experiencing what are traditionally considered lifestyle diseases such as obesity. As of 2008, nearly 30% of southerners were obese; startling figures considering that large populations in these states are relatively poorer. Warwick (2010: 103) observes that this is happening while still the southern states are prime agricultural hubs in the USA. He explains that this strange scenario is due to a shift towards mass production and corporatization that has made it easier for whole foods to be grown and transferred to the affluent Northern markets while at the same time making them precious and unaffordable for the home residents. The result is that unhealthy foods are now more accessible and affordable to the poor while the healthy ones are out of their reach, pointing the finger back to the corporate effect on the food system currently in place. Conclusion The evidence provided herein serves to back up the theoretical perspectives given to the effect that a corporate-dependent system in the agri-food sector precipitated the global food crisis which is the thesis of this study. This demonstrated through empirical evidence indicating that production of grain is actually sufficient, but then gets diverted to other uses such as biofuel production and feeding animals to meet the rising consumption of meat.
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