Food Industrialisation and Food Power: Implications for Food Governance

Food supply chains of developed countries industrialised in the second half of the twentieth century, with significant implications for developing countries over pursuit of policy, ensuing external costs and accompanying concentration of market power. Very powerful corporations dominate many sectors. Primary producers are locked into tight specifications and contracts. Consumers may benefit from cheaper food but are less enamoured of quality implications and health externalities. As consumer confidence has been shaken, new quality agencies have been created. Tensions have emerged about the state’s role as facilitator of industrial efficiencies. Food policy is thus torn between the pursuit of productivity and reduced prices and the demand for higher quality, with implications for both producers and consumers in the developing world.