Globalising Food - Agrarian Questions and Global Restructuring (Hardcover)

Uses a series of wide-ranging case studies from Britain, the United States, India, South Africa, New Zealand and Latin America to show how the agro food system - how we are all provisioned in food and agricultural products - is global in scope, but also how it differs from manufacturing. This book reveals the importance of new forces at work which are reshaping how agriculture is being industrialized and what some of its consequences and limits are around the world. The industrialization of nature often runs up against problems thrown up by its biological characteristics - health, consumer needs, the limits of genetic manipulation or environmental sustainablity. The case studies also show how the place of agriculture in the international division of labour is changing as new agricultural countries are emerging, and as new commodities (such as fresh fruits and vegetables) and actors (the fast food chains and retailers) begin to dominate the global agro-food system.