2. ‘We Are What We Eat’: The Agro-Food Industries
Chapter 9
‘We Are What We Eat’: The Agro-Food Industries

3. Review Concepts to Review Key Words
Transportation technologies, resource- extractive industries, ethical consumer practices, uneven globalization, role of the state
Key Words
Renewable resources, agricultural practices, global consumption patterns, genetically modified organisms, branding

4. The Agro-Food Industries: Definition and Structure
Characteristics of the industry
Globalization of agro-food
Production local, distribution increasingly global
‘Just-in-time’ industry
Agro-food and technology
‘Global cool chains’
Biotechnologies
Industrially produced chemicals
Genetic modification
Food additives

5. The State versus the Corporation
Role of the state
Shape of the corporations
Regulation of the industry
The labour force

6. The Market The consumer Although most people struggle to survive,
consumers in developed world are spoilt for choice
Food choices complex and embedded
Embrace diversity of new food products
Rise of ethical consumer movement
Branding
Dominated by branded products
Products sold as global brands, also simultaneously sold under a local label
Identity is key

7. Global Retail Biggest food retailers:
Have been domestically oriented for
most of their histories
Have become increasingly transnational
vary considerably in their degree of transnationalism
Competing with local firms is difficult
The use of local partners can avoid some of the difficulties of expansion
Retailers expand their sourcing