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Agribusiness
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>>>>>[Because everyone needs to eat... While these companies aren't always the biggest around, they certainly give their employees a great deal of job security. It isn't like people are going to suddenly stop needing food. (Unless, of course, biotech companies have their way...)]<<<<< |
Agribusiness is a major and thriving component of the Sixth World's economy. Although a significant proportion of the world population survives off of subsistence farming, almost three times as many people spend their hard-earned nuyen on food — most even spend the bulk of their money on foodstuffs. However, the political, economic, and ecological climate has made traditional farming and animal husbandry all but impossible. Consequently, agriculture has become a major business like any other industry.
The foodstuffs industry (which includes both agriculture and animal husbandry but is typically referred to as just "agribusiness") is roughly divided into two groups: the one that produces food for those that can afford it, and the one that produces food for those that can barely afford it.
Agribusiness
for the Rich
(a.k.a. "real food")
The agribusiness companies that produce "real food" tend to be smaller and more nimble (though much more wealthy) than the other half of the market. "Real food" companies are also a much more diverse group, individual companies often being highly specialized and staunchly independent. These companies invest millions (sometimes billions) of nuyen every year into soil enrichment and water purification programs or else they have built stadium-size (or larger) domes containing thousands of hydroponic tanks — or miniature eco-systems. A few examples of these companies are listed below.
Bountiful Harvest,
Inc.
Following a strict
internal code of standards, Bountiful Harvest is world-reknowned for the purity
and quality of their products. Founded by a vegan, the only "ethical compromise"
in the company's history was the switch from an all-vegan to vegetarian product
line. Bountiful Harvest only operates open-air facilities and goes to great
lengths to exceed the regulations on foodstuffs set by the UCAS, the EU, and
the NAN Council.
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>>>>>[Let
me get this straight... This company ONLY produces vegetables?]<<<<< >>>>>[No.
Their product line is VEGETARIAN. That just means no meats or meat products.
Try it sometime, it's a surprisingly healthy lifestyle.]<<<<< |
Fields Agricultural
Corporation
Specializing in organically
grown foods, this Denver-based company's long list of assets all began in 2031
with a quarter-million acre plot just north of that city. As of 2057, this now
globe-spanning corporation owns facilities on every populated continent; these
facilities include millions of acres of land, sixteen sequestered eco-systems
(referred to as "enclosures"), and the only commercially viable "satellite
farm" in existence.
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>>>>>[Satellite
farm? Are they talking about Greenstar?]<<<<< >>>>>[The
same. "Satellite farm" is just another phrase kicked around.
It's the same thing though.]<<<<< >>>>>[Speaking
of which. Can anyone confirm/deny the rumor that Greenstar 2 is going
up soon?]<<<<< >>>>>[Little
bit of both. They've been talking about it since Greenstar started showing
profit. They haven't actually started work on it yet though. Rumor has
it that they'll loft a crew to start work on it sometime within the next
five years though.]<<<<< >>>>>[You
can say that abt a/thing though...]<<<<< |
Green Husband
Corporation
One of the more diverse
of the "real food" companies, Green Husband's assets are evenly divided
between agriculture and animal husbandry. Making no claims to have aligned themselves
with any specific ideology, Green Husband's only guiding principle was best
summarized by this comment made by their CEO in 2055: "We're not in the
business of feeding everyone all the time. We're in the business of making
good-tasting food. People can't survive off of soy-products alone — I don't
care what the scientists say." As such, Green Husband has (for the
past thirty-five years) implemented a wide array of strategies to fulfill their
customers needs, using over a hundred stadium-sized "agricolonies"
each outfitted with thousands of hydroponic tanks for their agriculture, as
well as similar facilities for animal husbandry.
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>>>>>[What
exactly are these "similar facilities"? Is there such thing
as a "hydroponic tank" for an animal?]<<<<< >>>>>[Yes.
There is an analogous structure. And they aren't very pretty.]<<<<< >>>>>[Maybe
not, but I just put that out of mind whenever I've got enough to help
myself to a bucket of fried chicken or pork BBQ or anything like that.
Mmm... See, now forgetting wasn't so hard, was it?]<<<<< |
Western Pride,
Inc.
Although
their total product line also includes hydroponically-grown vegetables and bread
products, Western Pride boasts that it provides the highest quality meats in
the world. According to the trid advertisements "[y]ou can taste the difference
between the competition's cuts and the unbeatable quality of a pasture-raised
Western Pride steak." As the advertisement (and name) implies, the company
has indeed invested most of its capital into beef, which happens to be its best
revenue generating product as well.
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>>>>>[Yes.
"...its best revenue generating product..." Reason #1) It's
so damn hard to raise cattle -- WP, Inc. is just about the only ppl w/
cajones big enough to take on the project. Reason #2) They started out
in the cattle biz. E/thing else was an afterthought to them. Reason #3)
They charge outrageous prices for their steaks. Of course, you can charge
than much when (Reason #4) you really can back up your claims to having
the best steaks around. Seriously, let's face it, nature wants cows to
run around a bit before you eat them.]<<<<< |
Agribusiness
for the Poor
(a.k.a. "soy")
Unfortunately, a very large percentage of the world's population (a much larger percentage than most "civilized" nations would care to admit) cannot afford to buy "real" food all the time — or at all. While speculation on the cause of this simple fact ranges from inflation to pollution to wild conspiracies, the day-to-day reality is that many individuals' subsistence diets are comprised largely of soy products. Being rich in both carbohydrates and proteins, soy has become the key ingredient in many "budget" foodstuffs. Usually, a soy-based paste is enriched with additional vitamins, minerals, and amino acids, then mixed with artificial flavors, and finally marketed as something other than soy. As a business, soy generates trillions of nuyen in revenue every year. For the most part, the business of soy is managed by the following three organizations:
Conglomerado Internacional
de la Soja
(International
Soybean Conglomerate)
Based in Manila, the ISC (as it is known to the English-speaking world)
controls approximately 46% of the global soy market. The ISC consists of over
a hundred companies involved with growing, processing, and marketing soy and
soy-related products. The conglomerate itself provides a cooperative shell for
the companies involved, serving a variety of functions such as finding processing
companies to purchase the harvest of different growers or mediating disputes
between individual companies. Run as if it were a single company, the ISC issues
stock and has a board of directors which oversee the conglomerate's operations.
Global Soy Growers
and Processors Union
Based in Los Angeles,
CFS, the GSGPU controls approximately 39% of the soy market. The GSGPU is a
confederation of forty-nine companies and organizations involved with growing,
processing, and distributing soy-based foodstuffs. The primary roles of "the
Soy Union" are to mediate disputes between individual companies and to
regulate the fair distribution of products. Member companies of the GSGPU are
required to appoint one employee as their Union laison and every even-numbered
year, a new Union Chief is elected from the body of Union laisons by the Union
laisons. The GSGPU Operating Council is then appointed by the Union Chief.
Independent Soy
Producers Guild
Known more commonly
as the Soy Guild, the ISPG is a loose collective of nearly five hundred small,
otherwise independent soy farmers and farming collectives. The basic function
of the ISPG is to facilitate cooperation between the individual independent
soy farmers and (when needed) to attempt to protect them from the encroachment
of the ISC and/or the GSGPU.