‘Field To Market’ Program Is Not Sustainable: It’s Big Ag’s Latest Lie

For those individuals interested in healthy living and a healthier planet, ears perk up at words like “sustainable agriculture.” A program named “Field to Market” conjures visions of a local food economy—small-scale bucolic farming in truly sustainable fashion—not corporations posturing towards global processed food empires. But that’s exactly what the program is.

In a glossy promo video on the group’s website, Field to Market claims it’s creating a dialogue that’s “defining and measuring sustainability” in the food, fuel and fiber chain so that it can help to feed and clothe the billions of people on the planet. “[F]armers learn more about improving crop production and natural resource management inside the farm gate,” the website states. “Working together through on-the-ground fieldprint projects, growers and members of the food, fiber and fuel system are helping to tell the story of sustainable production and to promote continuous improvement.”

But with a roster of Field to Market member corporations that reads like a list of defendants in recent class action lawsuits for misappropriation of words like “natural,” the claims seem suspect. Kellogg, General Mills, Walmart, Monsanto, Land O’Lakes, McDonald’s, Syngenta and Coca-Cola are just some of the corporations partnering with the World Wildlife Fund, Environmental Defense Fund and the Nature Conservancy on Field to Market programs claiming to be aimed at conserving natural resources and employing state-of-the-art technologies.