ABSTRACT
One of the major features of globalization is global sourcing (Bonanno and Constance, 1996; McMichael, 1996). Global sourcing refers to the corporate global search for favourable socio-economic conditions that include a suitable political and business regulatory climate, docile and inexpensive labour, and available and adequate natural resources. Global sourcing has been particularly visible in the agro-food sector in the US through the emergence of confined animal feeding operations. Often promoted by transnational corporations as forms of capital penetration in economically depressed rural areas, these ventures have been particularly visible in regions where limited environmental, community wellbeing and labour regulations attract external corporate investments. While receiving support from political elites, these strategies have engendered widespread resistance. This crisis escalated to the point to delegitimize corporate agrofood agendas and existing Federal and regional regulations. It therefore required the intervention of public agencies such as the Department of Agriculture and the Environmental Protection Agency at the Federal level and regional agencies at the local level. This intervention has not been homogenous as Federal and most regional agencies introduced stricter regulations, while Texas took the opposite route and further deregulated the sector (Bonanno and Constance, 2000). The following analysis speaks to this issue by reviewing the case of the penetration of corporate poultry production in rural regions of South-eastern Texas and the ensuing community-based resistance.
