Ethical issues of global corporatization: agriculture and beyond

College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14853, USA. dp18@cornell.edu

The world food supply has become inadequate for more than half the world population, as evidenced by a recent report of the World Health Organization that indicated that more than 3 billion people are malnourished. This is the largest number of malnourished ever reported. Per capita food production, especially cereal grains, has been declining for nearly 2 decades, despite new biotechnology and other agricultural technologies. Rapid human population growth, compounded by diminishing availability of fertile cropland, freshwater, and fossil fuels, is intensifying the emerging problems in all food production systems. Numerous ethical issues are related to the problem of malnutrition, including global corporatization.