This book seeks to illuminate which firms have become the most dominant, and more importantly, ho... more This book seeks to illuminate which firms have become the most dominant, and more importantly, how they shape and reshape society in their efforts to increase their control. These dynamics have received insufficient attention from academics and even critics of the current food system. The power of dominant firms extends far beyond narrow economic boundaries, for example, providing them with the ability to damage numerous communities and ecosystems in their pursuit of higher than average profits. The social resistance provoked by these negative consequences is another area that is less visible to the majority of the population. When such resistance is evident at all, it frequently appears insignificant, failing to challenge the direction of current trends. Even very small movements, however, may influence which firms end up winners or losers or close off particular avenues for growth. These accomplishments also suggest potential limits and therefore the possibility that dominant firms may experience much greater threats to their power in the future.
One of the most pressing concerns about the industrialization of agriculture and food is the cons... more One of the most pressing concerns about the industrialization of agriculture and food is the consolidation and concentration of markets for agricultural inputs, agricultural commodities food processing and groceries. In essence a small minority of actors globally exercise great control over food system decisions. This means that because of increased consolidation of these markets globally-from the United States to China to Brazil, from South Africa to the United Kingdomthe vast majority of farmers, consumers and communities are left out of key decisions about how we farm and what we eat. Transnational agrifood firms are motivated by profits and power in the marketplace, leaving other social, economic and ecological goals behind. This creates an agroecological crisis in the face of climate uncertainty but one that is rooted in social and economic organization. In this chapter we detail the current economic organization of agriculture, and briefly describe its negative impacts on farmers, communities and ecology. We conclude by articulating stories of farmer-led resistance that imagine a new food system.
Page 1. Safe at any scale? Food scares, food regulation, and scaled alternatives Laura B. DeLind ... more Page 1. Safe at any scale? Food scares, food regulation, and scaled alternatives Laura B. DeLind Æ Philip H. Howard Accepted: 2 November 2007 / Published online: 16 January 2008 Ó Springer Science+Business Media BV 2008 ...
One of the most pressing concerns about the industrialization of agriculture and food is the cons... more One of the most pressing concerns about the industrialization of agriculture and food is the consolidation and concentration of markets for agricultural inputs, agricultural commodities food processing and groceries. In essence a small minority of actors globally exercise great control over food system decisions. This means that because of increased consolidation of these markets globally-from the United States to China to Brazil, from South Africa to the United Kingdomthe vast majority of farmers, consumers and communities are left out of key decisions about how we farm and what we eat. Transnational agrifood firms are motivated by profits and power in the marketplace, leaving other social, economic and ecological goals behind. This creates an agroecological crisis in the face of climate uncertainty but one that is rooted in social and economic organization. In this chapter we detail the current economic organization of agriculture, and briefly describe its negative impacts on farmers, communities and ecology. We conclude by articulating stories of farmer-led resistance that imagine a new food system.
Proceedings of the Vertebrate Pest Conference, 2012
Fruit producers have identified bird damage as a critical issue that has received limited attenti... more Fruit producers have identified bird damage as a critical issue that has received limited attention from researchers. A USDA study estimated that birds cost producers in 7 states tens of millions of dollars through fruit loss and management efforts. Despite these costs, research has been uncoordinated and piecemeal, leaving producers with few, well-tested management options. We describe several objectives to strive for in order to achieve the goal of providing producers with region-specific, cost-effective, and environmentally sustainable bird management strategies. These objectives include 1) quantifying economic consequences of bird damage for producers, consumers, and regional economies, and determining costs and benefits of various management techniques; 2) identifying amounts of damage attributable to specific bird species across crops and regions; 3) determining how bird damage varies within and across spatial scales (orchard, landscape, region); 4) evaluating consumer responses to management strategies and potential effects on marketing; 5) integrating economic, biological, and consumer information, i.e. using a systems approach, to determine the management strategies that should be tested; and 6) testing management strategies for efficacy with replicated, well-controlled experimental designs. By focusing on these objectives and coordinating activities among researchers and extension personnel from different regions of the country and from different disciplines, we will maximize efficiency in addressing this issue on a national scale while providing individual producers with region-specific information to guide their bird management efforts. Communication among researchers, extension personnel, and producers will be critical to minimize the costs of bird damage.
The Ethics and Economics of Agrifood Competition, 2013
We review research on power, dependency and the concentration of agrifood industries and report u... more We review research on power, dependency and the concentration of agrifood industries and report updated concentration figures for selected agrifood sectors. We then utilize network exchange theory to identify principles of dependency and network relations and describe network relationships within the broiler, beef and commodity crop sectors. We argue that this study demonstrates that network analysis can inform on the nature, source and extent of differential dependencies and asymmetric power relationships within the agrifood sector.
The commercial seed industry has undergone tremendous consolidation in the last 40 years as trans... more The commercial seed industry has undergone tremendous consolidation in the last 40 years as transnational corporations entered this agricultural sector, and acquired or merged with competing firms. This trend is associated with impacts that constrain the opportunities for renewable agriculture, such as reductions in seed lines and a declining prevalence of seed saving. To better characterize the current structure of the industry, ownership changes from 1996 to 2008 are represented visually with information graphics. Since the commercialization of transgenic crops in the mid-1990s, the sale of seeds has become dominated globally by Monsanto, DuPont and Syngenta. In addition, the largest firms are increasingly networked through agreements to cross-license transgenic seed traits.
Background: The prevalence of obesity and overweight in youth has increased dramatically since th... more Background: The prevalence of obesity and overweight in youth has increased dramatically since the 1980s, and some researchers hypothesize that increased consumption of low-nutrient, energy-dense foods is a key contributor. The potential importance of food retailers near schools has received increasing attention, but public health research and policy has focused primarily on fast food restaurants. Less is known about the relationship between overweight/obesity and other types of retailers. This study aims to investigate the potential associations between nearby 1) fast food restaurants, 2) convenience stores, and 3) supermarkets, and rates of overweight students in California schools. Methods: We examined the rate of overweight ninth grade students in public schools in 2007 using linear regression. The percentage of overweight students per school was determined by a state required physical fitness test, with three different options for measuring individual body composition. Our key independent variables were the presence of three different types of retailers within 800 m network buffers of the schools. Additional independent variables included school ethnic, gender and socioeconomic composition, as well as urban/non-urban location. We obtained the data from the California Department of Education and ESRI, Inc. Results: The presence of a convenience store within a 10-minute walking distance of a school was associated with a higher rate of overweight students than schools without nearby convenience stores, after controlling for all school-level variables in the regression (1.2%, 95% confidence interval 0.03, 2.36). Nearby fast food restaurants and supermarkets, however, were not associated with school rates of overweight students. Conclusions: Public health researchers and policy-makers interested in the food environments outside schools should expand their recent focus on nearby fast food restaurants to include convenience stores, which may also be important sources of low-nutrient, energy-dense foods for students.
Sustainability marketing trends have typically been led by smaller, more mission-driven firms, bu... more Sustainability marketing trends have typically been led by smaller, more mission-driven firms, but are increasingly attracting larger, more profit-driven firms. Studying the strategies of firms that are moving away from these two poles (i.e., mission-driven but larger firms, and profit-driven firms that are more committed to sustainability) may help us to better understand the potential to resolve tensions between firm size and sustainability goals. We used this approach to analyze a case study of the U.S. fair trade coffee industry, employing the methods of data visualization and media content analysis. We identified three firms that account for the highest proportion of U.S. fair trade coffee purchases (Equal Exchange, Green Mountain Coffee Roasters and Starbucks) and analyzed their strategies, including reactions to recent changes in U.S. fair trade standards. We found an inverse relationship between firm size and demonstrated commitment to sustainability ideals, and the two larger firms were much less likely to acknowledge conflicts between size and sustainability in their public discourse. We conclude that similar efforts to increase sustainability marketing for other products and services should be more skeptical of approaches that rely on primarily on the participation of large, profit-driven firms.
Recent years have seen the convergence of industries that focus on higher protein foods, such as ... more Recent years have seen the convergence of industries that focus on higher protein foods, such as meat processing firms expanding into plant-based substitutes and/or cellular meat production, and fisheries firms expanding into aquaculture. A driving force behind these changes is dominant firms seeking to increase their power relative to close competitors, including by extending beyond boundaries that pose constraints to growth. The broad banner of "protein" offers a promising space to achieve this goal, despite its nutritionally reductionist focus on a single macronutrient. Protein firm strategies to increase their dominance are likely to further diminish equity in food systems by exacerbating power asymmetries. In addition, the resilience of food systems has the potential to be weakened as these strategies tend to reduce organizational diversity, as well as the genetic diversity of livestock and crops. To better understand these changes, we visually characterize firms that are most dominant in higher protein food industries globally and their recent strategic moves. We discuss the likelihood for these trends to further jeopardize food system resilience and equity, and we make recommendations for avoiding these impacts.
A Special Report to the Family Farm Action Alliance, 2020
Consolidation is happening across all sectors in the food system, at the national and global leve... more Consolidation is happening across all sectors in the food system, at the national and global levels, and has resulted in a particular set of power relationships. This has resulted in numerous negative impacts on farmers, workers and their communities as well as consumers, who have experienced higher prices and less innovation.
These power relationships impact our food system democracy and are particularly concerning for marginalized voices and communities.
Pp. 89-91 in Transformation of Our Food Systems: The Making of a Paradigm Shift, 2020
In 2009 IAASTD suggested that “business as usual is no longer an option.” In the decade since, ho... more In 2009 IAASTD suggested that “business as usual is no longer an option.” In the decade since, however, business as usual has continued, and most food- and agriculture-related industries have become even more concentrated. The IAASTD noted that this trend is associated with numerous negative impacts, such as increased marginalization of farmer and rural livelihoods. Yet the market share held by the top four firms globally is 40 percent or higher in an increasing number of sectors, despite the fact that this concentration ratio once raised concerns for regulators when observed in much smaller regional and national markets.
Pp. 31-53 in Global Meat: Social and Environmental Consequences of the Expanding Meat Industry. MIT Press, 2019
Like many other industries, the meat processing industry has become much more global, and ownersh... more Like many other industries, the meat processing industry has become much more global, and ownership has concentrated dramatically in recent decades. The three largest firms globally are currently JBS of Brazil, Tyson Foods Inc. of USA, and WH Group Limited of China. When their shares are aggregated in the US market they control 63 percent of pork packing, and just two (Tyson and JBS) control 46 percent of beef packing and 38 percent of poultry (Tyson Foods 2016). These levels are of concern because institutional economists describe a market where four firms control 40 percent or more of sales as an oligopoly, or a shared monopoly, due to conducive conditions for increasing prices (Howard 2016). In addition, the largest meat processors have concentrated markets not just (a) horizontally, through acquiring direct competitors in their initial processing sectors (e.g. poultry), they have also grown (b) concentrically, by branching into the processing of additional livestock species, and (c) vertically, by taking over upstream suppliers (e.g. animal genetics, feed mills, feedlots) and downstream packaged/branded food manufacturers. By 2018, among all global packaged food firms, the largest included JBS ranked at number 2, Tyson at number 3 and WH
Pp. 15-29 in Bite Back: People Taking on Corporate Food and Winning. University of California Press, 2020
In October 2016, Mike Wallace, an Arkansas farmer, was shot and killed by a man who worked for a ... more In October 2016, Mike Wallace, an Arkansas farmer, was shot and killed by a man who worked for a neighboring farm. Just prior to this encounter, Wallace had argued with his killer over the phone. Wallace indicated that his soybean crop had been damaged by the herbicide dicamba, after it had been applied to nearby fields and drifted to his farm. Wallace's neighbor had planted a new variety of soybean seed on his farm, released by the seed and chemical corporation Monsanto in 2016. Unlike Wallace's soybeans, this new soybean variety was genetically engineered to be resistant to damage from dicamba. Though a new and supposedly less driftprone formulation of dicamba was approved for use for the 2017 growing season, for Wallace this was obviously too late. And it may not have helped in any case: even newer versions of dicamba (from Monsanto, as well as BASF and DuPont) were suspected of causing damage to millions of acres of non-resistant soybeans and other crops throughout 2017, just like the damage Wallace experienced. Some farmers and weed scientists have reported impacts from dicamba more than a mile away from its application, and they suspect that certain weather conditions allow the chemical to move long distances.
We propose that agroecology provides a framework for understanding ‘levels’ for the transition to... more We propose that agroecology provides a framework for understanding ‘levels’ for the transition to sustainable food systems. If we agree that agroecology includes social and political dimensions of governing territorial food systems, then it must be linked to movements for food sovereignty. However, the concentration of power in food and farming systems locks in industrial logic, posing immense barriers to agroecological and social transition. This creates a tension between efforts at convergence of food system innovations from below, versus co-optation of grass-roots language and practices by private and public actors who are committed not to changing the logic of industrial agriculture, but instead to reducing its harm. We suggest agroecological and food sovereignty movements consciously embrace this tension as a dance of creativity and appropriation. If this dance can be made generative rather than deadly, it can open pathways for transition to new ways of seeing, experiencing, and getting food.
While many studies have suggested the beer value chain might be a vehicle for economic growth, fe... more While many studies have suggested the beer value chain might be a vehicle for economic growth, few have estimated the economic impacts of craft beer to a geographic region. As such, this study uses modified input/output analysis to identify the economic contributions of instate beer production to the Michigan economy. We find that the beer value chain generated nearly $500 million in Gross State Product in 2016, contributing nearly $1 billion as well as 9738 jobs in total aggregate economic contributions. The results suggest that state governments might generate economic growth by creating a business climate that is conducive to the growth of the instate beer value chain.
This book seeks to illuminate which firms have become the most dominant, and more importantly, ho... more This book seeks to illuminate which firms have become the most dominant, and more importantly, how they shape and reshape society in their efforts to increase their control. These dynamics have received insufficient attention from academics and even critics of the current food system. The power of dominant firms extends far beyond narrow economic boundaries, for example, providing them with the ability to damage numerous communities and ecosystems in their pursuit of higher than average profits. The social resistance provoked by these negative consequences is another area that is less visible to the majority of the population. When such resistance is evident at all, it frequently appears insignificant, failing to challenge the direction of current trends. Even very small movements, however, may influence which firms end up winners or losers or close off particular avenues for growth. These accomplishments also suggest potential limits and therefore the possibility that dominant firms may experience much greater threats to their power in the future.
One of the most pressing concerns about the industrialization of agriculture and food is the cons... more One of the most pressing concerns about the industrialization of agriculture and food is the consolidation and concentration of markets for agricultural inputs, agricultural commodities food processing and groceries. In essence a small minority of actors globally exercise great control over food system decisions. This means that because of increased consolidation of these markets globally-from the United States to China to Brazil, from South Africa to the United Kingdomthe vast majority of farmers, consumers and communities are left out of key decisions about how we farm and what we eat. Transnational agrifood firms are motivated by profits and power in the marketplace, leaving other social, economic and ecological goals behind. This creates an agroecological crisis in the face of climate uncertainty but one that is rooted in social and economic organization. In this chapter we detail the current economic organization of agriculture, and briefly describe its negative impacts on farmers, communities and ecology. We conclude by articulating stories of farmer-led resistance that imagine a new food system.
Page 1. Safe at any scale? Food scares, food regulation, and scaled alternatives Laura B. DeLind ... more Page 1. Safe at any scale? Food scares, food regulation, and scaled alternatives Laura B. DeLind Æ Philip H. Howard Accepted: 2 November 2007 / Published online: 16 January 2008 Ó Springer Science+Business Media BV 2008 ...
One of the most pressing concerns about the industrialization of agriculture and food is the cons... more One of the most pressing concerns about the industrialization of agriculture and food is the consolidation and concentration of markets for agricultural inputs, agricultural commodities food processing and groceries. In essence a small minority of actors globally exercise great control over food system decisions. This means that because of increased consolidation of these markets globally-from the United States to China to Brazil, from South Africa to the United Kingdomthe vast majority of farmers, consumers and communities are left out of key decisions about how we farm and what we eat. Transnational agrifood firms are motivated by profits and power in the marketplace, leaving other social, economic and ecological goals behind. This creates an agroecological crisis in the face of climate uncertainty but one that is rooted in social and economic organization. In this chapter we detail the current economic organization of agriculture, and briefly describe its negative impacts on farmers, communities and ecology. We conclude by articulating stories of farmer-led resistance that imagine a new food system.
Proceedings of the Vertebrate Pest Conference, 2012
Fruit producers have identified bird damage as a critical issue that has received limited attenti... more Fruit producers have identified bird damage as a critical issue that has received limited attention from researchers. A USDA study estimated that birds cost producers in 7 states tens of millions of dollars through fruit loss and management efforts. Despite these costs, research has been uncoordinated and piecemeal, leaving producers with few, well-tested management options. We describe several objectives to strive for in order to achieve the goal of providing producers with region-specific, cost-effective, and environmentally sustainable bird management strategies. These objectives include 1) quantifying economic consequences of bird damage for producers, consumers, and regional economies, and determining costs and benefits of various management techniques; 2) identifying amounts of damage attributable to specific bird species across crops and regions; 3) determining how bird damage varies within and across spatial scales (orchard, landscape, region); 4) evaluating consumer responses to management strategies and potential effects on marketing; 5) integrating economic, biological, and consumer information, i.e. using a systems approach, to determine the management strategies that should be tested; and 6) testing management strategies for efficacy with replicated, well-controlled experimental designs. By focusing on these objectives and coordinating activities among researchers and extension personnel from different regions of the country and from different disciplines, we will maximize efficiency in addressing this issue on a national scale while providing individual producers with region-specific information to guide their bird management efforts. Communication among researchers, extension personnel, and producers will be critical to minimize the costs of bird damage.
The Ethics and Economics of Agrifood Competition, 2013
We review research on power, dependency and the concentration of agrifood industries and report u... more We review research on power, dependency and the concentration of agrifood industries and report updated concentration figures for selected agrifood sectors. We then utilize network exchange theory to identify principles of dependency and network relations and describe network relationships within the broiler, beef and commodity crop sectors. We argue that this study demonstrates that network analysis can inform on the nature, source and extent of differential dependencies and asymmetric power relationships within the agrifood sector.
The commercial seed industry has undergone tremendous consolidation in the last 40 years as trans... more The commercial seed industry has undergone tremendous consolidation in the last 40 years as transnational corporations entered this agricultural sector, and acquired or merged with competing firms. This trend is associated with impacts that constrain the opportunities for renewable agriculture, such as reductions in seed lines and a declining prevalence of seed saving. To better characterize the current structure of the industry, ownership changes from 1996 to 2008 are represented visually with information graphics. Since the commercialization of transgenic crops in the mid-1990s, the sale of seeds has become dominated globally by Monsanto, DuPont and Syngenta. In addition, the largest firms are increasingly networked through agreements to cross-license transgenic seed traits.
Background: The prevalence of obesity and overweight in youth has increased dramatically since th... more Background: The prevalence of obesity and overweight in youth has increased dramatically since the 1980s, and some researchers hypothesize that increased consumption of low-nutrient, energy-dense foods is a key contributor. The potential importance of food retailers near schools has received increasing attention, but public health research and policy has focused primarily on fast food restaurants. Less is known about the relationship between overweight/obesity and other types of retailers. This study aims to investigate the potential associations between nearby 1) fast food restaurants, 2) convenience stores, and 3) supermarkets, and rates of overweight students in California schools. Methods: We examined the rate of overweight ninth grade students in public schools in 2007 using linear regression. The percentage of overweight students per school was determined by a state required physical fitness test, with three different options for measuring individual body composition. Our key independent variables were the presence of three different types of retailers within 800 m network buffers of the schools. Additional independent variables included school ethnic, gender and socioeconomic composition, as well as urban/non-urban location. We obtained the data from the California Department of Education and ESRI, Inc. Results: The presence of a convenience store within a 10-minute walking distance of a school was associated with a higher rate of overweight students than schools without nearby convenience stores, after controlling for all school-level variables in the regression (1.2%, 95% confidence interval 0.03, 2.36). Nearby fast food restaurants and supermarkets, however, were not associated with school rates of overweight students. Conclusions: Public health researchers and policy-makers interested in the food environments outside schools should expand their recent focus on nearby fast food restaurants to include convenience stores, which may also be important sources of low-nutrient, energy-dense foods for students.
Sustainability marketing trends have typically been led by smaller, more mission-driven firms, bu... more Sustainability marketing trends have typically been led by smaller, more mission-driven firms, but are increasingly attracting larger, more profit-driven firms. Studying the strategies of firms that are moving away from these two poles (i.e., mission-driven but larger firms, and profit-driven firms that are more committed to sustainability) may help us to better understand the potential to resolve tensions between firm size and sustainability goals. We used this approach to analyze a case study of the U.S. fair trade coffee industry, employing the methods of data visualization and media content analysis. We identified three firms that account for the highest proportion of U.S. fair trade coffee purchases (Equal Exchange, Green Mountain Coffee Roasters and Starbucks) and analyzed their strategies, including reactions to recent changes in U.S. fair trade standards. We found an inverse relationship between firm size and demonstrated commitment to sustainability ideals, and the two larger firms were much less likely to acknowledge conflicts between size and sustainability in their public discourse. We conclude that similar efforts to increase sustainability marketing for other products and services should be more skeptical of approaches that rely on primarily on the participation of large, profit-driven firms.
Recent years have seen the convergence of industries that focus on higher protein foods, such as ... more Recent years have seen the convergence of industries that focus on higher protein foods, such as meat processing firms expanding into plant-based substitutes and/or cellular meat production, and fisheries firms expanding into aquaculture. A driving force behind these changes is dominant firms seeking to increase their power relative to close competitors, including by extending beyond boundaries that pose constraints to growth. The broad banner of "protein" offers a promising space to achieve this goal, despite its nutritionally reductionist focus on a single macronutrient. Protein firm strategies to increase their dominance are likely to further diminish equity in food systems by exacerbating power asymmetries. In addition, the resilience of food systems has the potential to be weakened as these strategies tend to reduce organizational diversity, as well as the genetic diversity of livestock and crops. To better understand these changes, we visually characterize firms that are most dominant in higher protein food industries globally and their recent strategic moves. We discuss the likelihood for these trends to further jeopardize food system resilience and equity, and we make recommendations for avoiding these impacts.
A Special Report to the Family Farm Action Alliance, 2020
Consolidation is happening across all sectors in the food system, at the national and global leve... more Consolidation is happening across all sectors in the food system, at the national and global levels, and has resulted in a particular set of power relationships. This has resulted in numerous negative impacts on farmers, workers and their communities as well as consumers, who have experienced higher prices and less innovation.
These power relationships impact our food system democracy and are particularly concerning for marginalized voices and communities.
Pp. 89-91 in Transformation of Our Food Systems: The Making of a Paradigm Shift, 2020
In 2009 IAASTD suggested that “business as usual is no longer an option.” In the decade since, ho... more In 2009 IAASTD suggested that “business as usual is no longer an option.” In the decade since, however, business as usual has continued, and most food- and agriculture-related industries have become even more concentrated. The IAASTD noted that this trend is associated with numerous negative impacts, such as increased marginalization of farmer and rural livelihoods. Yet the market share held by the top four firms globally is 40 percent or higher in an increasing number of sectors, despite the fact that this concentration ratio once raised concerns for regulators when observed in much smaller regional and national markets.
Pp. 31-53 in Global Meat: Social and Environmental Consequences of the Expanding Meat Industry. MIT Press, 2019
Like many other industries, the meat processing industry has become much more global, and ownersh... more Like many other industries, the meat processing industry has become much more global, and ownership has concentrated dramatically in recent decades. The three largest firms globally are currently JBS of Brazil, Tyson Foods Inc. of USA, and WH Group Limited of China. When their shares are aggregated in the US market they control 63 percent of pork packing, and just two (Tyson and JBS) control 46 percent of beef packing and 38 percent of poultry (Tyson Foods 2016). These levels are of concern because institutional economists describe a market where four firms control 40 percent or more of sales as an oligopoly, or a shared monopoly, due to conducive conditions for increasing prices (Howard 2016). In addition, the largest meat processors have concentrated markets not just (a) horizontally, through acquiring direct competitors in their initial processing sectors (e.g. poultry), they have also grown (b) concentrically, by branching into the processing of additional livestock species, and (c) vertically, by taking over upstream suppliers (e.g. animal genetics, feed mills, feedlots) and downstream packaged/branded food manufacturers. By 2018, among all global packaged food firms, the largest included JBS ranked at number 2, Tyson at number 3 and WH
Pp. 15-29 in Bite Back: People Taking on Corporate Food and Winning. University of California Press, 2020
In October 2016, Mike Wallace, an Arkansas farmer, was shot and killed by a man who worked for a ... more In October 2016, Mike Wallace, an Arkansas farmer, was shot and killed by a man who worked for a neighboring farm. Just prior to this encounter, Wallace had argued with his killer over the phone. Wallace indicated that his soybean crop had been damaged by the herbicide dicamba, after it had been applied to nearby fields and drifted to his farm. Wallace's neighbor had planted a new variety of soybean seed on his farm, released by the seed and chemical corporation Monsanto in 2016. Unlike Wallace's soybeans, this new soybean variety was genetically engineered to be resistant to damage from dicamba. Though a new and supposedly less driftprone formulation of dicamba was approved for use for the 2017 growing season, for Wallace this was obviously too late. And it may not have helped in any case: even newer versions of dicamba (from Monsanto, as well as BASF and DuPont) were suspected of causing damage to millions of acres of non-resistant soybeans and other crops throughout 2017, just like the damage Wallace experienced. Some farmers and weed scientists have reported impacts from dicamba more than a mile away from its application, and they suspect that certain weather conditions allow the chemical to move long distances.
We propose that agroecology provides a framework for understanding ‘levels’ for the transition to... more We propose that agroecology provides a framework for understanding ‘levels’ for the transition to sustainable food systems. If we agree that agroecology includes social and political dimensions of governing territorial food systems, then it must be linked to movements for food sovereignty. However, the concentration of power in food and farming systems locks in industrial logic, posing immense barriers to agroecological and social transition. This creates a tension between efforts at convergence of food system innovations from below, versus co-optation of grass-roots language and practices by private and public actors who are committed not to changing the logic of industrial agriculture, but instead to reducing its harm. We suggest agroecological and food sovereignty movements consciously embrace this tension as a dance of creativity and appropriation. If this dance can be made generative rather than deadly, it can open pathways for transition to new ways of seeing, experiencing, and getting food.
While many studies have suggested the beer value chain might be a vehicle for economic growth, fe... more While many studies have suggested the beer value chain might be a vehicle for economic growth, few have estimated the economic impacts of craft beer to a geographic region. As such, this study uses modified input/output analysis to identify the economic contributions of instate beer production to the Michigan economy. We find that the beer value chain generated nearly $500 million in Gross State Product in 2016, contributing nearly $1 billion as well as 9738 jobs in total aggregate economic contributions. The results suggest that state governments might generate economic growth by creating a business climate that is conducive to the growth of the instate beer value chain.
Twenty Lessons in the Sociology of Food and Agriculture (Jason Konefal and Maki Hatanaka, eds.), 2018
The US food system can be compared to an hourglass, with approximately two million farmers at the... more The US food system can be compared to an hourglass, with approximately two million farmers at the top and over three hundred million people who eat at the bottom, but a much smaller number of corporations controlling the stages that connect farmers to everyone else. This lesson explores key links in the food chain and their levels of corporate control, including retailing, distribution, packaged food manufacturing, commodity processing, farming, and farm inputs. In each of these stages the focus is on more specific markets or products, such as those involving cow's milk or soybeans. The role of changing government actions in increasing the power of dominant firms is explored. The potential for these trends to continue is also discussed--growing awareness of the negative impacts of greater corporate control of food has motivated a diverse range of movements to oppose it.
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These power relationships impact our food system democracy and are particularly concerning for marginalized voices and communities.
These power relationships impact our food system democracy and are particularly concerning for marginalized voices and communities.