SOC349H5 Lecture 3: Week 3
Document Summary
Lecture 3: the global industrial food system: pros and cons. 1:05 pm: generally think of food as individual, but we"re looking at the larger picture. What are the benefits of a global industrialized food system: variety, abundance, non-seasonal produce, convenience, deliciousness. cheap food: food costs are increasing because of low dollar, climate change, oil prices, canadians still spend very little on food, especially thinking globally. The industrial agriculture model: key characteristics: highly productive/high yields, seek cheapest labour possible, high-tech, substitution for human labour happens in 3 different ways, mechanical revolution (1900-, chemical revolution (1945-, pesticides, fertilizers, gene revolution (1990-, gmo to improve yields. Corporate-dominated model: hour-glass shape: a highly concentrated middle connects farmers and consumers, small number of corporations dealing with machinery, distribution of food, tncs: transnational corporations. Explaining negative farm incomes: cost of seeds and inputs for farming is rising, revenue is increasing, but incomes continue to decrease, farmers share 15% of food dollars.
