Chapter 9

‘We Are What We Eat’: The Agro-Food Industries

Review• Concepts to Review– Transportation technologies, resource-

extractive industries, ethical consumer practices, uneven globalization, role of the state

• Key Words– Renewable resources, agricultural

practices, global consumption patterns, genetically modified organisms, branding

The Agro-Food Industries: Definition and Structure• Characteristics of the industry

• Globalization of agro-food• Production local, distribution increasingly global• ‘Just-in-time’ industry

• Agro-food and technology• ‘Global cool chains’• Biotechnologies• Industrially produced chemicals• Genetic modification• Food additives

The State versus the Corporation

• Role of the state

• Shape of the corporations

• Regulation of the industry

• The labour force

The Market• The consumer

– Although most people struggle to survive, consumers in developed world are spoilt for choice– Food choices complex and embedded– Embrace diversity of new food products– Rise of ethical consumer movement

• Branding– Dominated by branded products– Products sold as global brands, also simultaneously

sold under a local label– Identity is key

Global Retail• Biggest food retailers:– Have been domestically oriented for

most of their histories– Have become increasingly transnational– vary considerably in their degree of

transnationalism

• Competing with local firms is difficult– The use of local partners can avoid some

of the difficulties of expansion– Retailers expand their sourcing