Concentration and Power in the Food System

Concentration and Power in the Food System PDF Author: Philip H. Howard
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1472581148
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 217

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Book Description
Nearly every day brings news of another merger or acquisition involving the companies that control our food supply. Just how concentrated has this system become? At almost every key stage of the food system, four firms alone control 40% or more of the market, a level above which these companies have the power to drive up prices for consumers and reduce their rate of innovation. Researchers have identified additional problems resulting from these trends, including negative impacts on the environment, human health, and communities. This book reveals the dominant corporations, from the supermarket to the seed industry, and the extent of their control over markets. It also analyzes the strategies these firms are using to reshape society in order to further increase their power, particularly in terms of their bearing upon the more vulnerable sections of society, such as recent immigrants, ethnic minorities and those of lower socioeconomic status. Yet this study also shows that these trends are not inevitable. Opposed by numerous efforts, from microbreweries to seed saving networks, it explores how such opposition has encouraged the most powerful firms to make small but positive changes.

Concentration and Power in the Food System

Concentration and Power in the Food System PDF Author: Philip H. Howard
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1472581148
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 217

Get Book Here

Book Description
Nearly every day brings news of another merger or acquisition involving the companies that control our food supply. Just how concentrated has this system become? At almost every key stage of the food system, four firms alone control 40% or more of the market, a level above which these companies have the power to drive up prices for consumers and reduce their rate of innovation. Researchers have identified additional problems resulting from these trends, including negative impacts on the environment, human health, and communities. This book reveals the dominant corporations, from the supermarket to the seed industry, and the extent of their control over markets. It also analyzes the strategies these firms are using to reshape society in order to further increase their power, particularly in terms of their bearing upon the more vulnerable sections of society, such as recent immigrants, ethnic minorities and those of lower socioeconomic status. Yet this study also shows that these trends are not inevitable. Opposed by numerous efforts, from microbreweries to seed saving networks, it explores how such opposition has encouraged the most powerful firms to make small but positive changes.

Agricultural Contracting Update

Agricultural Contracting Update PDF Author: James M. MacDonald
Publisher: DIANE Publishing
ISBN: 1437981682
Category : Reference
Languages : en
Pages : 43

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Book Description
Marketing and production contracts covered 39% of the value of U.S. agricultural production in 2008, up from 36% in 2001, and a substantial increase over 28% in 1991 and 11% in 1969. However, aggregate contract use has stabilized in recent years and no longer suggests a strong trend. Contracts between farmers and their buyers are reached prior to harvest (or before the completion stage for livestock) and govern the terms under which products are transferred from the farm. Contracts are far more likely to be used on large farms than on small farms. Production contracts are used widely in livestock production, while marketing contracts are important to the production of many crops. Charts and tables. This is a print on demand report.

Publicly Funded Agricultural Research and the Changing Structure of U.S. Agriculture

Publicly Funded Agricultural Research and the Changing Structure of U.S. Agriculture PDF Author: National Research Council
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 0309170346
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 314

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Book Description
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) requested that the Board on Agriculture and Natural Resources of the National Research Council (NRC) convene a panel of experts to examine whether publicly funded agricultural research has influenced the structure of U.S. agriculture and, if so, how. The Committee to Review the Role of Publicly Funded Agricultural Research on the Structure of U.S. Agriculture was asked to assess the role of public-sector agricultural research on changes in the size and numbers of farms, with particular emphasis on the evolution of very-large-scale operations.

Handbook of Agricultural Economics

Handbook of Agricultural Economics PDF Author: Christopher B. Barrett
Publisher: Elsevier
ISBN: 0323915019
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 808

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Book Description
Handbook of Agricultural Economics, Volume Five highlights new advances in the field, with this new release exploring comprehensive chapters written by an international board of authors who discuss topics such as The Economics of Agricultural Innovation, Climate, food and agriculture, Agricultural Labor Markets: Immigration Policy, Minimum Wages, Etc., Risk Management in Agricultural Production, Animal Health and Livestock Disease, Behavioral and Experimental Economics to Inform Agri-Environmental Programs and Policies, Big Data, Machine Learning Methods for Agricultural and Applied Economists, Agricultural data collection to minimize measurement error and maximize coverage, Gender, agriculture and nutrition, Social Networks Analysis In Agricultural Economics, and more. Presents the latest release in the Handbook of Agricultural Economics Written and contributed by leaders in the field Covers topics such as The Economics of Agricultural Innovation, Climate, Food and Agriculture, Agricultural Labor Markets, and more

Agricultural Economic Report

Agricultural Economic Report PDF Author: Vivian D. Wiser
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Agriculture
Languages : en
Pages : 124

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Book Description


Understanding the Dynamics of Produce Markets

Understanding the Dynamics of Produce Markets PDF Author:
Publisher: DIANE Publishing
ISBN: 1428953442
Category : Grocery trade
Languages : en
Pages : 26

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Book Description


A Market Facilitator's Guide to Participatory Agroenterprise Development

A Market Facilitator's Guide to Participatory Agroenterprise Development PDF Author: Shaun Ferris
Publisher: Catholic Relief Services
ISBN: 1614920028
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 144

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Book Description
This publication is a product of the experiences and lessons learned while implementing agroenterprise projects in eastern and southern Africa. A Market Facilitator's Guide is based on a resource-to-consumption framework, which is the central theme of the "enabling rural innovation" approach for rural development. This approach seeks to empower farmer groups with the necessary skills to make informed decisions for their economic development, based on an analysis of their surroundings, assets and skills. The methodology also aims for outcomes that are equitable, gender focused and participatory.

Supermarkets and the Meat Supply Chain

Supermarkets and the Meat Supply Chain PDF Author: Frank Bunte
Publisher: OECD
ISBN:
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 124

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Book Description
This volume examines the economic impacts of increasing retailer concentration on consumers, processors and farmers.

The Changing Scale of American Agriculture

The Changing Scale of American Agriculture PDF Author: John Fraser Hart
Publisher: University of Virginia Press
ISBN: 9780813922294
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 320

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Book Description
Few Americans know much about contemporary farming, which has evolved dramatically over the past few decades. In The Changing Scale of American Agriculture, the award-winning geographer and landscape historian John Fraser Hart describes the transformation of farming from the mid-twentieth century, when small family farms were still viable, to the present, when a farm must sell at least $250,000 of farm products each year to provide an acceptable level of living for a family. The increased scale of agriculture has outmoded the Jeffersonian ideal of small, self-sufficient farms. In the past farmers kept a variety of livestock and grew several crops, but modern family farms have become highly specialized in producing a single type of livestock or one or two crops. As farms have become larger and more specialized, their number has declined. Hart contends that modern family farms need to become integrated into tightly orchestrated food-supply chains in order to thrive, and these complex new organizations of large-scale production require managerial skills of the highest order. According to Hart, this trend is not only inevitable, but it is beneficial, because it produces the food American consumers want to buy at prices they can afford. Although Hart provides the statistics and clear analysis such a study requires, his book focuses on interviews with farmers: those who have shifted from mixed crop-and-livestock farming to cash-grain farming in the Midwest agricultural heartland; beef, dairy, chicken, egg, turkey, and hog producers around the periphery of the heartland; and specialty crop producers on the East and West Coasts. These invaluable case studies bring the reader into direct personal contact with the entrepreneurs who are changing American agriculture. Hart believes that modern large-scale farmers have been criticized unfairly, and The Changing Scale of American Agriculture, the result of decades of research, is his attempt to tell their side of the story.

Agricultural and Food Marketing Management

Agricultural and Food Marketing Management PDF Author: I. M. Crawford
Publisher: Food & Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO)
ISBN:
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 312

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Book Description