ABSTRACT
The higher the percentage of the value chain seized by ‘middlemen’, the more advantages both to production agriculture and to retailers there can be. Food processing and retailing firms coming under the agricultural commodity chains are however generally cases of imperfect competition, which can be seen as making every entity guilty of the ‘middleman’ charge to a greater or lesser extent. Flour millers process wheat and other agricultural raw materials, the availability of which is subject to seasonality and climate variations. Agricultural cooperatives are member-owned, democratically controlled businesses from which the benefits are received in proportion to use. Land transport is a major feature of the agricultural distribution system, most notably for grains but also livestock. Transport from country receival point to terminal port is the more substantial component of the land transport task and, for the most part, this is done by rail.
