Explaining change in the international agro-food system

The paradoxical nature of growth in the US bison industry

“…On the one hand, this article explains the paradox of bison repopulation by reference to the growing concentration of production within agriculture (Friedland et al 1991;Bonanno et al 1994;Marsden et al 1996;Ward and Almås 1997;Goodman and Watts 1997). However, the bison industry is a very small industry with only tentative links beyond the North American continent, and therefore a more modest approach than political economy, commensurate with the present state of the bison industry, is required.…”

Parallel alternatives: Chinese-Canadian farmers and the Metro Vancouver local food movement

“…Food systems are historically contingent, value-laden, and shifting (Friedmann, 2005;McMichael, 2009). Agri-food system scholars disagree on the extent to which the contemporary global agrifood system is regulated by international food regimes (Friedmann, 2005), heterogeneous at the local level (Ward & Almås, 1997), and shaped by people who respond variously to social and economic changes (Arce & Marsden, 1993). There is, however, broad consensus among agrifood system scholars that deepening social, environmental, and economic tensions in the contemporary global agri-food system are being resisted (Friedmann & McNair, 2008;McMichael, 2009).…”

“…Recently, however, agri-food system scholars have begun insisting that local and conventional food systems are interrelated and more productively understood as a continuum (see Hinrichs, 2003;Sonnino & Marsden, 2006;Ward & Almås, 1997). Empirical research indicates that, in practice, there is considerable diversity within -and considerable overlap between -"conventional" and "local" food.…”

A Historical Institutionalist Approach to the Uruguay Round Agricultural Negotiations

“…These components would be biochemically identical to the compounds naturally found in these products. Interested readers should see Ward and Almas (1997) for an overview of the debate as to whether the agri-food production system is Fordist or post-Fordist. 20 Most recently, genetically modified organisms and the foods in which they are found have come under public scrutiny.…”