ABSTRACT
Globalization has taken on a substantial life during the past two decades. It is now being applied to such diverse topics as trade, politics, political economy, labour, corporations and communities, to name only a few.1 With regard to the agri-food sector, the concept relates to the extension through space and time of commodity production and consumption. In horticulture, for example, it involves, among other things, the extension of growing seasons through varietal development and the establishment of new locations capable of production, notably in counter-seasonal contexts. (Thus, the southern hemisphere has become an important production location for northern hemisphere markets.) Such spatial extension of production-consumption systems over enormous distances has major integrative implications for socio-economic and cultural processes, because production-marketing links, especially for perishable commodities, require meticulous logistical integration. The fragility of many commodities and the requirements of food safety imply the re-regulation of production systems in the name of ‘quality’ by the large retailing chains that interface between producers and consumers (Marsden and Arce 1995: 1274).
