The global food economy
Subtitle: the battle for the future of farming
By: Anthony Weis.
Publisher: Zed Books; Distributed in the USA exclusively by Palgrave Macmillan
Published: 2007
Place of publication: London; New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 217
ISBN-13: 9781842777954; 9781842777947
Subjects: Agriculture -- Economic aspects; Food industry and trade; Food supply
Description: The Global Food Economy examines the human and ecological cost of what we eat. The current food economy is characterized by immense contradictions. Surplus 'food mountains', bountiful supermarkets, and rising levels of obesity stand in stark contrast to widespread hunger and malnutrition. Transnational companies dominate the market in food and benefit from subsidies, whilst farmers in developing countries remain impoverished. Food miles, mounting toxicity and the 'ecological hoofprint' of livestock mean that the global food economy rests on increasingly shaky environmental foundations. This book looks at how such a system came about, and how it is being enforced by the WTO. Ultimately, Weis considers how we can find a way of building socially just, ecologically rational and humane food economies.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.
Table of contents: title: The global food economy: contradictions and crises; title: The temperate grain-livestock complex; title: From colonialism to global market integration in the south; title: Entrenching an uneven playing field: the multilateral regulation of agriculture; title: The battle for the future of farming.