Food Supplies In A Globalisimg Economy

Question 1

What dominate each part of the food chain in developed countries?

Answer 1

Agribusinesses

Question 2

Give example of which the role agribusinesses play

Answer 2

Chemical companies produce seeds are increasingly linked to grain traders and food processors. The same companies buy, ship and mill the grain, then feed it to livestock or turn it into cereal, often crossing national borders.

Question 3

What is horizontal integration?

Answer 3

When a small number of firms effectively control a given market, increasing the market power of said firms and securing them large profits

Question 4

Give examples of horizontal integration

Answer 4

3 companies control 90% of the world’s coffee exports, each having a turnover larger than the economy of many countries.

Cargill, archer Daniels and Bunge control nearly 90% of global grain trade

The dominance of agricultural TNCs is not only caused by horizontal integration but by their dominance of many parts of the production chain

Question 5

Vertical integration is….

Answer 5

When a company own or control through a joint venture, multiple parts of the production chain

Question 6

Give an example of vertical integration

Answer 6

Dole owns plantations and canning facilities and has the marketing power to bring pineapples from plantations in the Philippines to consumers around the world

Question 7

People are unhappy with the influence of agribusinesses on which kind of organisations?

Answer 7

Governments, WTO and the world bank

Question 8

What are the criticisms of agribusinesses?

Answer 8

1. The global nature of food trade gives agribusinesses a political voice
2. They’ve been accused of allocating low paid, intensive labour with potentially environmentally damaging effects to countries ill equipped to deal with them
3. They use large amounts of pesticides and fertilisers
4. Their operations have led to the destruction of traditional agricultural communities and family farms
5. They impose uniformity on agricultural production, undermining the long term sustainability in some parts of the world
6. Many agricultural products grown in developing countries are aimed at an MEDW consumer base
7. Some agribusinesses have been at the forefront of the production of gm crops

Question 9

Give an example of a TNC arguing it is environmentally responsible

Answer 9

Unilever claims it has led a campaign in Kenya to educate its employees about the damages of hiv and aids. It also claims to be committed to source all of its palm oil from certified sustainable sources by 2015