Week Two: O'Hara and Stagl, "Global Food Markets and Their Local Alternatives"
When I consider sustainability, I think about the confluence of ecology, economy, and society. The authors reveal the often-overlooked social value of community supported agriculture in this article. While Robers addresses the economic and environmental limits of global markets, here we find a focus on the social implications of an industrialized food system. Trust and interdependence within a food system are perhaps just as valuable as the food itself.
Link: Video discussing the CSA concept
--Brent W.
Our modern day "concern is with the disconnect between economic activities and their environmental and social context" (O'Hara and Stagl 549). This is important because we really need to start thinking about the large picture about our agricultural problems. After reading this and several of the other articles about the "agricultural crisis", I am concerned more and more because not only does it affect our health and our environment, but it also affects our world economy as the agriculture industry globalizes. Because people became money hungry and pure capitalists, it made already poor nations poorer and rich nations richer. I really agree with the authors because we need to take more of a "socio-ecological economic" approach to facing our problems and mediating the very different lines between money, ecology, and culture. The problem is that we need to decide what a good mediation is and realize that not everyone is going to be happy.
ReplyDeleteRobbie B
"Industrialization and concentration have shaped all economic sectors. Even the food sector.... has not been exempt. Growing agro-industrial units produce products that are transformed into globally distributed intermediate (partially processed) food products, and processed and marketed as brand name food products by large processing firms and franchises."
ReplyDelete(O'Hara, Sabine U. and Sifrid Stagl, Global Food Markets and Their Local Alternatives,source page 536, reader page 30)
In the reading, the quote represents to me that the industrialization of the global market has made way for firms and franchises to use resources to produce processed food. With these resources at their disposal, these food processing entities have the means of distributing these products under the brand names consumers in their respective countries identify with. A lot of these products do not benifit the consumer heatlth wise, nor do the savings wise. The impression that I got from this rading is that much of the worlds agricultural resources are being used to produce processed food with is a bad thing. Many of these growers/farmers that produce the produce we globally consume are having difficulties resulting from groundwater contamination, fertilizers, and pesticides which could effect the global market of other countries. I agree with the authors that there are threats to the way the future earth dwellers eat because of the globalization of resources and that CSA's could be a good short term solution.
Brandon G.-
"Less visible and often less tangible are the effects of social and cultural disembedding"(36). I found the far reaching effects of global markets to be a very important issue that does not receive adequate attention. "Both factors can contribute to social destabilization as local knowledge, information, social organization, identity and thus socio-diversity are lost"(36). The idea of a break down of society as a result of a globalized food system is frightening. Control of the worlds food supply in the hands of a few people. "On the other hand it requires more elobrate training and control systems" (33).
ReplyDelete-Duane B
"Despite remaining questions, however, it is clear that the global concentration process has changed the value of basic agricultural products themselves" Sabine U. O'Hara and Sigrid Stagl 537
ReplyDeleteThere is no doubt in my mind that global economy in general has started to become completely industrialized and unfortunatly this trend has spilled over to food markets. This article explains the evolution of the globalization and industrialization of food has progressed as well as the negative effects that it has had over the years. I completely agree whith what is said in this article and full heartedly support the counter movements described in the article, such as consuming more locally raised foods and the production of more sustainable farms to produce our food.
"Global Markets have managed to overcome spatial constraints. Giddens defines this characteristic of globalization as "the intensification of worldwide social relations which link distant localities in such a way that local happenings are shaped by events occuring many miles away and vice versa"
ReplyDelete-Giddens, Global Food markets & Their Local Alteratives; pg 31(or 537)
This quote relates to the reading because it starts off talking about how we are lossing diversity socially and biologically. We now can get any food product at any time of the year even if it is not in season. Also the quote continues on to discuss how changes in wants by consumers can affect a producer thousands of miles away. Sadly most of the food we eat isn't even made in the United States. I think as a society we have been very spoiled with being able to have all this food all the time and would have a very hard time going back to just having local foods.
"..the reliance on expert systems leads to the adoption of technical knowledge that is related to uniform operations in increasingly standarized food systems"
ReplyDeleteIn the article, O'Hara speaks about the effects of the dependence on expert systems by the global food systems. I believe that by producing food using expert knowledge it has definitely increased our rates of production and efficiency of food in the global market. Since food is susceptible to several natural factors such as weather, by turning to expert production we have been able to guarantee our food production and it had made it more reliable. However, this definitely replaces our local workforce and they are forced to either re train themselves or be out of work, since industrialized companies bring in their own expertise. But I think that it is not a negative factor, as this helps to increase our efficiency in producing food. Although, we need to be ethical while replacing our previous workforce, and also be ethical about how natural our food is grown. Overall, by relying on technological production methods, we have increased the output of our industry.
-Taijash K
In the Topic at hand of "Global Food Markets and The Alternatives" Their is a constant theme of, People that grow the food have a direct relationship with the people that eat the food. This is supported through local farming and fresh products. From spinach to strawberries, people who participate and believe in CSA have a firm belief that local, organic, and not processed foods are far superior to any food that can be bought in a large supermarket. And i would have to agree that most of the time this is true. Not only are these foods better in quality and taste, but they are better for you as a whole. They lack the harmful pesticides that mass grown products posses and are grown the way nature intended out food to be grown. Most CSA enthusiast account for time being the number one thing separating them from any other food source. Their food is constantly fresh and sold to people pretty much the day they are picked. Even if foods don't look perfect, they may be more unique, more ripe, and much better taste than any other products. These farmers harvest for " freshness and nutrition and their two of their over riding criteria", When these farmers keep these strict guidelines it makes you products better for you in nutrition, taste, and overall health. They believe the first step to good health is good eating and this demands that you eat the finest products and the freshest. CSA is a great thing in our world of food that is growing every day and is catching on to the public and making them more aware of where there food comes from and what they should look for in good quality foods.
ReplyDelete-Josh R.
"With greater distance, it is more difficult for people to see the consequences of their actions. Those who see the consequences are in one place, those who can do something about it are in another, and the distance between them makes communicating and agreeing on a collective solution difficult."
ReplyDeleteThis article hits on four main ideas on how our global food market is on its way to major problems: industrialization and concentration, spatial and temporal independence, dependence on symbols, and reliance on expert systems. We see how top company's and corporation account for a large majority of the market. An example in the article shows how industrialization can over populate a particular market; only ten agrochemical corporations account for 85% of the worldwide market. How can we allow such little variety in who produces our goods and services. With limited corporations making copious amounts of revenue they can bully and have a great effect on politics and the market itself. And these corporations horizontally expand, and take up large sections of varies markets, the spatial problems effect what people see and don't. With products being global we try to find ways to make agricultural products more durable and more easily transportable (pg. 31). This changes what we see on our shelves. Instead of fresh vegetables and fruits we are bombarded with packaged and processed food items. With foods like these comes our third problem with symbolic presents. People now are divided on what they buy and eat. Labels are put on items that show higher class status and with growth in this market corporations are allowed charge a higher prices. We start to rely on these corporations because of the trust we gain and the reliance that develops. We are stirring from our farms. But a large push from CSAs has helped people reconnect with the farm and farmers. They learn where their vegetables and meats come from.
I chose the quote above that I felt that rounded out the main idea of what this article is about. It illustrates the essence of how we have come to all these problems. We have so many interconnecting webs that our market has become tangled. It has come out like a Christmas lights box with the inter-tangled lights. You never know where to start to be able to hang them up. To change our problems we need to get closer. We shouldn't be having to follow a treasure map like web that shows how those oranges or chips came from; Most likely China.