The challenges produced by the corporate food regime have been amply demonstrated in the 21st century by rising food price inflation since 2007 and the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020. Food price inflation reflects a combination of demand dynamics and supply constraints that are unique to the corporate food regime, while the marked rise in zoonotic disease reflects the prevalence of industrialized agriculture and the marginalization of small-scale farming in the corporate food regime.

Food price increases in the 21st century have been greater than at any time since the 1970s and have dramatic implications of the living standards of those most marginalized by the world food system.