A research and policy organisation based in Brussels and Washington D.C. has expressed concerns that large U.S. agribusinesses are using government support to press for their highly specialised and intensive view of agriculture to be adopted around the world.

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Having studied US embassy cables which first came to light over two years ago in dossiers released by Wikileaks, Food and Water Watch found evidence that "the United States has aggressively pursued foreign policies in food and agriculture that benefit the largest seed companies," instead of promoting the diverse and equitable strategies it claims are needed to achieve food security. The consumer rights group said on Tuesday (14th May), releasing a report into the concerted lobbying, that "U.S. State Department has launched a concerted strategy to promote agricultural biotechnology, often over the opposition of the public and governments, to the near exclusion of other more sustainable, more appropriate agricultural policy alternatives."

Food & Water Watch examined five years' worth of State Department diplomatic cables dating from 2005 to 2009 – over 900 altogether – in what it said is the first comprehensive analysis of the means by which the U.S' diplomatic representatives are driving a pro-GM agenda, which benefits a small number of companies and potentially runs contrary to the wider public interest. The cables reveal PR strategies including organising pro-biotech conferences aimed at swaying members of the media, industry and political decision makers as well as opposing legal measures that would require labelling or greater restriction of GM crops.

The research group added that "This corporate diplomacy was nearly twice as common as diplomatic efforts on food aid."   

Biotech companies believe that their highly specialised approach, of which the drive for genetically modified crops has received most public and policy attention, will solve the environmental and nutritional shortcomings of the current agricultural paradigm whilst increasing food production. They maintain that rapid biotechnology will be able to swiftly address problems currently facing world agriculture.   

However, opponents maintain that the approach is deeply flawed and insist a more holistic view is needed; the seminal IAASTD report into the future of sustainable food, which was commissioned by the World Bank and compiled by 400 scientific experts, saw GM crops as an irrelevancy at best. The report called instead for more inductive (bottom up) distribution and the development of environmentally responsible, diverse agriculture systems to eradicate problems of poverty and food insecurity.

The IAASTD findings have been backed by the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation, which has repeatedly stressed the need to champion agricultural biodiversity to increase the resilience of the world's food systems. According to FAO figures, upwards of three quarters of the world's agricultural diversity was lost in the 20th Century as a result of the drive for more uniform and predictable agricultural production.

Food and Water Watch director Wenonah Hauter said on Tuesday, "A handful of giant biotechnology companies are unduly influencing U.S. foreign policy and undermining our diplomatic efforts to promote security, international development and transparency worldwide."

When the cables were first released by Wikileaks in late 2010, it was discovered that former U.S. Ambassador Craig Stapleton had advised inflicting economic sanctions on France in response to the  2007 ban on Monsanto's MON810 (Yieldgard) maize. In response to the French moratorium, Stapleton said "Country team Paris recommends that we calibrate a target retaliation list that causes some pain across the EU since this is a collective responsibility, but that also focuses in part on the worst culprits… Moving to retaliation will make clear that the current path has real costs to EU interests and could help strengthen European pro-biotech voices".

The report is available here