agribusiness: agribusiness: an industrialized, corporate form of agriculture controlled by a small number of large corporations A. Production Controls: 1. laws of supply & demand 2. production costs: fuel, fertilizer, labor, transport 3. vertical integration: primary, secondary, tertiary

Examples:  broiler chickens of specified age & weight  cattle fed to exact weight  wheat with a minimum protein content  popping corn with certain features  French fry potatoes for fast food chains like McDonald’s Fewer farms, larger farms, more inputs, & more output

1. Contract farming: farmer agrees to grow to spec, buyer pays and provides advice/support. 2. Agribusinesses often from core countries 3. The largest companies are U.S. companies - ConAgra, Delmonte, Green Giant Three US firms - control 61% of the global banana trade

 Can be helpful to small foreign farmers: ▪ advice ▪ seeds ▪ fertilizers ▪ machinery ▪ profit  Harmful? Deforestation

"Once, many companies owned silos in Paraquay," says Angelica Ramirez. "Now they are all Cargill."

1. Type of intensive farming away from city centers “Mediterranean” agriculture 2.“Mediterranean” agriculture: - grapes, olives, oranges, figs, some vegetables - California, Chile, and…the Mediterranean! “Plantation” crops 3.“Plantation” crops: usually coastal - a foreign crop, foreign money, foreign workers  Tea (India/Sri Lanka),  Rubber (Malaysia/Indonesia):  Cacao (Ghana/Nigeria)  Cane sugar (the Caribbean/Brazil/Mexico)  Coffee (Brazil/Colombia):  Bananas (Central America)

1. post-WW II mass production: heavy machinery, chemicals, irrigation “truck farms” 2.“truck farms” for highly perishable items “livestock-grain farming”: 3.“livestock-grain farming”: 75% of W. Europe & U.S. crops feed livestock!

1. cheaper land, larger farms, distance from city? 2. wheat farming: “spring” harvest: mid-West & Canada “winter” harvest: S. America, C. Asia, Australia  Wheat farming: #1 extensively farmed crop!  20% of all calories consumed by people

“von Thünen’s Rings”: 1. concentric land use rings around urban centers 2. as distance from market increases, land value decreases 3. perishable crops closest to city 4. higher the transport cost: lower the rent