Food Power
In politics, the use of agriculture or agricultural products to influence the outcome of decisions is called Food Power. Several nations with crude oil have organised themselves and founded a cartel called OPEC. Through this cartel, they can fix the price at which they will sell oil. Food power works in much the same way. Nations usually do what is best for their citizens, who usually want food.
Food power is part of food politics. Embargoes can also be used to put pressure on a nation. In order for a nation to make use of food power effectively, the nation must effectively apply and display scarcity, supply concentration, demand dispersion, and action independence. The four main nations that export enough agriculture to be able to exert food power are the United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. The U.S. does appear to use food power for punishment. Some African countries have used food power in internal conflicts on a smaller scale.
Food Power Media
Harvesting corn in Iowa, United States.
This bubble map shows the global distribution of food imports in 2005 as a percentage of the top trader (USA - $69,293,920,000).*This map is consistent with incomplete set of data too as long as the top trader is known. It resolves the accessibility issues faced by colour-coded maps that may not be properly rendered in old computer screens.*Data was extracted on 20th June 2007 from
Fidel Castro at a meeting of the United Nations General Assembly
Satellite image of Sudan
