food and the city - global food trade

8/7/2019 Food and the City - Global Food Trade

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The Global Food Trade

Food & the City


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PART A.

Background Information: Globalization

&

Trade Relations Between the Worlds Nations

Food & the City


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What is Globalization?The latest stage in a process characterized by the

spread, and intensification, of CAPITALISMacross the globe.

Globalization involves interaction and integration of increasingnumbers of PEOPLE through International trade Investment Travel Tourism Information technology Mass media


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Stages of Capitalism

Copyright 2010Pearson Education Canada

Inc 5-3


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Globalization:The Issues Since 1950

Volume of World Trade

...increase is 20-fold


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Globalization: The IssuesMovement of GOODS, SERVICES,CAPITAL

Building of large manufacturing and retailbusinesses controlled

outside the community or country (subsidiaries of TransnationalCorporations (TNCs)Walmart, Toyota, etc.direct investment

Disappearance of local enterprises

Restaurants, entertainment venues replaced by branch plants offoreign-based TNCs (affect choices of food & beveragesand otherproducts and services).

Globalization impacts environment, national & local cultures, national

& local governments, individuals physical well-being, human rights


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Globalization: The IssuesGlobalization has both advocates and

detractors.

Advocates

Poor countries benefit from increased employment

opportunities and rising standard of living.


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Globalization: The IssuesDetractors, contd

Opponents contend increased

inequalities

Wealth, power, privilege accrue for developed nations

Less developed and poorer regions exploited

World Bank shapes development policies (Africa, Latin America,Asia & Eastern Europe)

IMF, WTO & GATT (organizations and treaties) have global impacttoo


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Globalization: The IssuesWorld Bank IMFInternational Monetary Fund

WTOWorld Trade Organization

GATTGeneral Agreement on

Tariffs and Trade


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Globalization: The IssuesWorld Bank

Develop policiesAfrica, Latin America, Asia, EasternEurope

Proclaims to eradicate poverty

Criticized for producing social inequality

Economic policies contribute to, responsible for,environmental damage


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Globalization: The IssuesInternational Monetary FundIMF Established in 1944, post WWII

Response to 1930s (Dirty 30s) Great Depression

Promised to restore economic stability

Goal to increase trade

There are 184 membership nations

Intervened in major financial crises1995 & 1997-1998

Mexico, East Asia Policies criticized for increasing poverty & suffering of

ordinary citizens; and for shielding multinationals & theirwealthy backers


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Globalization: The IssuesWorld Trade OrganizationWTO Associated with globalization; absolute rule, so member

countries much comply with policies

Grew out of Uruguay Round of GATT trade talks (1986-

1994)

WTO founded in January 1995

International body with 146 member countries

To promote FREE TRADE (like GATT)


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Globalization, Inequality &Development


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Alternative Model of Global Economy

Copyright 2010 PearsonEducation Canada Inc 5-11


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Copyright 2000 by Allyn & Bacon

Gross Domestic Product (GDP)measure of

whether economy is expanding or contractingMeasures dollar value of ALL FINAL GOODS & SERVICES(domestic & foreign) produced within the borders of a countrysuch as Canada or the United States in a given year.

Used by Economists & Social Scientists

Gross National Product (GNP)

X Does NOT include goods & services produced by

foreign producers in Canada.

Does include the dollar value of goods & servicesproduced by all Canadian-ownedfirms operating in

foreign countries.

Globalization, Inequality & Development


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Copyright 2000 by Allyn & Bacon

Gross Domestic Product (GDP)measure of

whether economy is expanding or contracting

US Institute for Policy Studies

497 billionaires worldwide in 2001

Combined wealth of $1.54 trillionexceeds combinedGNPs of all nations ofSub-Saharan Africa or oil-richregions of the Middle East or North Africa

Billionaires combined wealth > combined incomes of

poorest half of all of humanity (IPS, quoted in Mokhiber& Weissman, 2002)

Globalization, Inequality & Development


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Sociological Theories ofGlobal

&Social EconomicDevelopment


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How did the globe become stratifiedinto such distinct worlds ofdevelopment?

because the poorer nations musthave fewer resources than thericher nations. Yes or No?

T bl


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Three Worlds of DevelopmentFalse assumptionthat poorer nations have fewerresources

Percentage of the WorldsMost Industrialized Nations

Industrializing Nations

Least Industrialized Nations

Table

Land Population31% 16%

20% 16%

49% 68%


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The Causes of Global Stratification1. Western Imperialism and Colonization (Britain, France,Holland, Germany, Portugal, Spain)

2. World System Theory (Expansion of Capitalism since 1500s;

began in Europe)

3. Dependency Theory

4. Culture of Poverty


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The Causes of Global Stratification1. Imperialism and Colonization (Britain, France,

Holland, Germany, Portugal, Spain)

WESTERN IMPERIALISM

Europeans pursued unlimited geographic expansion over thecenturies

They took over other countries so they could expand theirmarkets

They gained access to cheap raw materials

Backed by powerful armaments Europeans developed by newtechnologies


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The Causes of Global Stratification1. Imperialism and Colonialism

COLONIZATION (Result of WesternImperialism)

Powerful nations invaded, dominated, exploited Colonization occurred when industrialized nations made

colonies ofweaker nations and exploited their labour andnatural resources.

Drew maps--Free-for-all among European industrialized nations

European nations tended to focus onAfrica,Asia

United States concentrated on CentralandSouth America


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COLONIZATION, contd Colonization occurred when industrialized nations made

colonies ofweaker nations and exploited their labour andnatural resources; they left a controlling force behind.

Industrialized nations needed consumers elsewhere; through

conquests, markets expanded and businessmen gained access tonew markets and raw materials (England, 1750).


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COLONIZATION, contd

Nations that industrialized first got ahead of the rest of theworld and became the most powerful.

European nations tended to focus onAfrica,Asia

United States concentrated on CentralandSouth America

The Causes of Global Stratification


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2. World System Theory, Immanuel

Wallerstein He argued that economic, political, social, and cultural interactionshave grown between nations.

Today, these links are so great that they tie most of the worlds countries

together.There are four (4) groups of interconnected nations:1. Core nationswhere capitalism first developed (Engl., N.Europe).2. Semi-peripheryHighly dependent on trade with core nations

(Mediterranean area).3. Periphery or fringeLimited to selling cash crops to core nations,w/limited economic development (Eastern Europe, Canada).

4. Semi-peripheralLeft out of growth of capitalism, w/few economic tiesto core nations (most of Africa/Asia). They act like core countries when trading

w/periphery, but behave asperipheralnations when engaged in economicrelations w/core regions.




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2. World System Theory, Immanuel Wallerstein

Globalization

Extensive movement ofcapital, technology, people, and ideasbetweennations was ushered in by the expansion of capitalism.

Hence, NO NATION is able to live in isolation.



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3. Dependency Theory Stresses how the least industrialized nations (LINs) became

dependent on the more industrialized nations (MINs).

Least industrialized nations turned into plantations (manyspecialize in single cash crop) and minesresources taken.


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The Causes of Global Stratification4. Culture of Poverty (John Kenneth

Galbraith) Argued that some nations are crippled by a way of life that perpetuates

poverty from one generation to the next.

A way of life based on traditional values (of subsistence economics) and religious beliefs

(perhaps a reverence for the Earth).

BLAMES VICTIMS OF POOR NATIONSesp. those living in RURAL areas (farmingcommunities, e.g. rural India) who are afraid of new farming or manufacturingtechniques, for if they fail it could mean hunger or death.

It faults the characteristics of poor nations rather than internationalarrangements that benefit the most industrialized nations at their expense.

Hence, most sociologists prefer imperialism, world system theory, anddependency theoryto Galbraiths culture of poverty.


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The Structures of Globalization&Maintaining Stratification

Regardless of how GLOBALIZATION

developed, why do the same countries remainrich and other countries stay poor?

How is Global Stratification Maintained ?


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1. Neocolonialism, in the 20th century, replaced

19

th

colonialism (Michael Harrington) INTERNATIONAL MARKETS, not military, is a tool for

controlling LINs.Powerful MINs determine price oftin (Bolivia), copper(Peru),

coffee(Brazil)

Control through mechanism of debt; capital pays interest (weaponspurchased from dev. nations) instead of investing in own industries.

Move in hazardous industries to LINs (chemicals, asbestos into India).

Although the LINs have their own system of governments (elected ordictatorships) they remain as dependent on the MINs as they werewhen those nations occupied them

(Film: Life & Debt, Jamaica depends on Britain as a market for its

bananas; it is especially dependent on U.S. & international funding

agents like the IMF).


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2. Transnational or MultinationalCorporations

Companies that operate across many national boundaries,help to maintain the global dominance of the MINs.

In some cases, MINs directly exploit the LINs.

E.g. United Fruit Company (UFC)-Controlled natl and local politics in Central America-Ran LINs like fiefdoms for companys own profit

-U.S. marines backup company (prevent civil disobedience)


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2. Transnational or Multinational

Corporations, cont`d

Multinational corporations try to work closely with ELITE of the

LINsforming INFORMAL PARTNERSHIPS betweenMULTINATIONAL CORPORATIONS.

Elite receive SUBSIDIES (payoffs), and corporations gain access to

the countrys RAW MATERIALS, LABOUR, and MARKET.


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2. Transnational or MultinationalCorporations, cont`d

Play a role in changing international

stratification Unintentional by-product of worldwide search for cheap

resources and labour

NEW FACTORIES provide opportunities to develop NEW SKILLSand a CAPITAL BASE.

E.g. Pacific Rim, Asian Tigersnow have a strong capital base

and are rivaling older capitalist nations.


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Maintaining Global Stratification

3. Technology and the Maintenance ofGlobal Domination The race between the MOST and LEAST industrialized nations to

develop and apply new information technologies can be comparedto a marathon runner competing against a one-legged man.

To maintain global domination, new technologies create advantages forthe Most Industrialized Nations.

Gilletteinvesting $100 million in technology that will

maximize production of razors. Least Industrialized countries lag behind technologically.


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Anti-Globalization&Child Labour


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Anti-GlobalizationTargeting the negative practices of transnationalcorporations (TNCs) is one major strategy of the anti-globalization movement. Such protests usually focus onthe following:

1. Aim for the maximum ofprofits2. Locate where the salaries are the lowest3. Employ children and women in factories

4. Destroy the environment through production5. Obliterate cultural identities6. Amass greater power than many nation states


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Anti-Globalization

Founded in 2001 in Porto Alegre, Brazil, the World SocialForum (WSF) is NOT an organization or formal group.

Rather, it uses the INTERNET as an open space to bringtogether social movements, organizations, NGOs, andindividuals to discuss alternatives to globalization.


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Anti-Globalization

The most important restriction is compulsory education; in every

province, a young person must attend school until graduation fromhigh school or until she/he reaches the age of 18. (Canada signedconvention 182, prohibiting children to work in dangerous work environments;did not ratify convention 138, prohibiting age to work 14 & 15).

The International Labour Organization (ILO), a United NationsAgency, has established conventions regarding child labour;however, these conventions are not necessarily enforced.

In 2000 approx. 15,000 children worked as forced labour in theagricultural industry.picking cocoa beans in Ghana and Ivory Coast

Continued trafficking in young girls for sex trade (See film:Darwin`s Nightmare).


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Poverty: A Global WarningPoverty, not rising food prices,threatens about one third of the

world`s people with starvation.


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Facts Food prices have dropped by 80% since 1947,

factoring in inflation.

Solving the hunger crisis is a matter of raisingincomes, not suppressing food pricesmakes

poor poorer, and hungrier.


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Food in Canada is underpriced Farmers are going broke

People need help to afford to pay more for food

Creating more affordable housing

Job security

Partial answers to larger socioeconomic problem of food

security.


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Why are People Poor?

Structural Explanation of Poverty Social Structurefeatures of society deny some people access to education orlearning job skills.

Racial, ethnic, age, and gender discrimination

Large-scale economic changeplant closures, few unskilled jobs, marginal jobs thatpay poverty wages.

Characteristics of Individuals Explanation ofPoverty

Characteristics of individuals that are assumed to contribute to their povertystereotypes like laziness, lack of intelligence.

Sociologists citedropping out of school, early parenthood, bearing more childrenthan other classes.


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Poverty: A Global Warning

One in five (1/5) people in the world live on less than $1perday

Poverty causes 8 million to die each year

Almost 11 million children die each year before the age offive from mostly preventable diseases

Growing chasm between rich &poor nations can lead to

international violence, terrorism and threats to worldsecurity.

P A Gl b l W i d


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Poverty: A Global Warning, contd

90% ofworlds health research money focuses on healthproblems of 20% of the global population

Malaria & TB cause half the deaths in developing countries butreceive little attention or funding

25 million people in Sub-Saharan Africa have HIV/AIDSbutmedicines are too expensive

i i


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Discussion

What is the role of the international community to helpalleviate hunger,povertyand illness in developing countries?

What should the relationship be between funders and the

governments of the developing countries?


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Global & NationalStratification Systems

Canada:Wealth & Power


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Canada: Wealth & Power

Property Canadians total NET wealth = $3 trillion Includes real estate, corporate stocks, bonds, business assets Super-rich1,000 individuals hold 80% corporate stocks and bonds

-represent 2% of Canadian populationTwelve families and five conglomeratescontrol 1/3 of all corporate

assets in Canada

Family Dynastieswealth and power in Canada1300+ largest corporations in Canada in 1983 owned/controlled by

six (6) families:

Weston, Black, Desmarais, Irving, Thomson, Bronfman

Note: These families and conglomerates produce everything that most Canadians

use/consume in their daily routines and activities.


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Power Elites maintain

social inequality

Social Stratification Helps Maintain the StatusQuoSocial Inequality.

li i i S i l li


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How Elites Maintain Social Inequality

*The control of ideas is moreeffective than brute force.

Elite in every society develops ideologies to justify

its position at the topand marginalize those atthe bottom who become a cheap labour force.


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Introduction to Four Food Activists

Food & the City


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Perspectives of Four Food Activists: Author Laurel Eden Waterman`s definition of

``trying to eat sustainably``--the focus of her book:About Local Food: Four Conversations with Toronto Food

Activists

``Trying to live as consciously and compassionately as

possible in a city, and trying to live more consciously

and compassionately everyday. It`s about relationshipswith places and communities. It`s about life and earth

and love.``


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Perspectives of Four Food Activists:1. Jane Hayes

Gardener, artist, educator

2. Wayne Roberts

Manages the Toronto Food Policy Council

Writes and organizes about food system design

3. Tobey Nemeth

Chef de cuisine at Jamie Kennedy Wine Bar

Helped move the restaurant to a local food model4. Elizabeth Harris

Runs the Riverdale Farm and Brick Works Farmers` Markets


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Perspectives of Four Food Activists: Each of the four food activists differ in

the work they do and therefore their

perspectives, yetthey share VALUES

& VISION.


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Perspectives of Four Food Activists: There are multiple approaches to eating

sustainably (see Michael Pollen`s book:

Food Rules).


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PART B.

The Global Food Trade

Food & the City

What do Supersize Me and Peaceable


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What do Supersize Me and Peaceable

Kingdom have in common?

Maximum yield food per acre

Maximum profit - consumption, costs

Food processing and CAFOs profitable because of corn surplus

Fast food/food processing and CAFOs have negative impacts on:

o human health and communities

o environment and ecosystems

o animals


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Why do we have more food and still have


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Why do we have more food and still have

hunger and malnutrition?

Food waste

Spoilage (represents 40% of food grown)

Household or personal

Food retailers

Restaurants

Food farmerswhat they can`t selland novel foods

Overconsumption (meat, processing)

Redundant trade (energy waste)

Surplus (burning, dumping, spoiling)

Ex. Food Corporation of India (p. 75)


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Unfair Trade

Sometimes called free trade trade between nations

without government intervention (tariffs, subsidies etc.)

Legacy of international trade: Colonial roots

Cash crops (sugar, tea, coffee, bananas, etc)

Export dependent (surplus; cannot meet nutritional needs ofcommunity)

Vulnerable to international markets


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The international trade poverty cycle

IMF and WTOforce markets open

in exchange for loans

International competitionSets low price for good

- Race to the bottom

Farmers struggleto compete

Markets flooded withcheaper imports- economies of scale- dumping

Need loans

E i f S l ( l ll d `` t t l ``)


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Economies of Scale (also called returns to scale )

Term used by economists to refer to the situation in which the cost of

producing an additional unit of output (i.e., the marginal cost) of a

product (i.e., a good or service) decreases as the volume of output (i.e.,

the scale of production) increases (E.g. CAFOs)

It could also be defined as the situation in which an equal percentageincrease in all inputs, results in greater percentage increase in output.

Helps to understand structure of industries, their prices and output levels

Major implications for public policy, especially when it leads to naturalmonopolies, and those monopolies that ``claim to be natural`` so

governments won`t break them up.

Economies of scale definition by the Linux Information Project (LINFO)


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Protectionism

When governments intervene in this cycle

Tariffs import taxes

Subsidies government gives money to support domesticindustry and lowers costs of production & cost of food

Canada gives 280 million in agricultural subsidies

Hurts small farmers in global south

Farmers in global north also struggle

Add d f d t


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Added pressures on food system:

Growing global population

Growing global meat consumption

Peak oil (Book: Your World is About to Get A Whole Lot Smaller by

Canadian economist Jeff Rubin)

Water systemssalination, pollution, affects of climate change

Soillosing arable growing soil to industrial, commercial and

residential development; contamination due to industrial agricultural

practices Biodiversitylosses at all levels of the food chain

Climate changedifficult to change peoples mindset about wants and

needs; media influence and marketing that creates desire for ``things``


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Alternatives Green Food

Local Food (backyard, rooftop, community gardens)

Organic

Vegetarian, vegan

Fair trade

Horizontal trade

Food sovereignty

Permaculture

Slow food


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Alternatives

Locavores & Local Food (100 MileDiet)

Local transportation systems may not always be as

efficient as regional systems, depending on the mode of

transport

Trucks vs trains

E.g. goat farmer from Owen Sound


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Embodying Energy (EE)Calculating Food Miles

To accurately calculate ``food miles``, youneed to know the following:

Where the food is grown

How the food is transported

Whether the food is refrigerated

How much food is shipped at a time

If, how, and where it is processed and packaged

How far the grocery shopper travels to buy the food

and get it home


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Embodied Energy Green food is local food

Local Food, it could be said, is more important than organic

But is local greener than vegan

For instance:8 lbs ofgrain uses same amount of energy as 1 lb ofmeat

(actually, meat uses 15:1 ratio to grain, to factor in hide and hoofs,

and organic grain for meat).The issue is not miles but embodied energy. This includes energy used to get food

from farm to plate, from location where food is grown to where it is consumed.


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U.S. Food SystemSpends 14% of its total energy on

transportation, 4th behind energy spentonHome preparationRefrigeration (31%)

Agricultural production (21%) andprocessing (16%)

Wayne`s Instrumental Analysis:

Reduce energy spent on refrigeration, agricultureProduction and processing could take priority over``food miles``


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U.S. Food SystemWayne`s Instrumental Analysis:

Reduce energy spent on refrigeration,agriculture

Production and processing could take priority

Over ``food miles``Buy fewer:

Frozen foods

Animal-based foods

Processed foods


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Embodied Energy (EE)

The food miles issue fades behind SOCIAL andECONOMIC issues.

Example: Green Coffee It is shipped by boat, and then roasting it domestically

Coffee farmers rely on international markets because you can`t grow

carrots in Ethiopia`s mountains.


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Embodied Energy (EE) Considers vegetarianism and veganismFactors in cost to rainforestclearcutting trees to grow

soybeanso When soy fed to cattle EE almost increases exponentially

Factors in imported staples like tofu and legumes, nuts andolive oil

Organic production

Modes of transportation and destination

Embodying energy analysis factors all these things! Thetotal package of energy in a food item, whether it`s local,

food and the city - global food trade

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