ABSTRACT
Writing over a decade ago, Magdoff and colleagues highlighted not only
the rapid pace of change, but the scale of production, degree of
integration and extraordinary level of market concentration that was
becoming ever more evident in the global agri-food system. During the
past ten or so years, this process has intensified further, with the largest
economic actors in the food system, most especially corporate retailers,
extending their reach, power and influence. Today, the supermarket
format has become a ubiquitous feature of food shopping around the
world, from Auckland to Abuja, Beijing to Buenos Aires. Indeed, it is
the cornucopia of the average suburban supermarket that best illustrates
the extraordinary integration of the global agri-food system with
extended supply chains, ensuring the year-round provision of fresh fruit
and vegetables irrespective of their seasonality or the distance between
their sites of production and consumption. Consequently, it is in large-
scale retailing where most power in the food system now rests,
reflecting the steady migration of “added-value” activities downstream
and away from the farm-based sector during the course of the past
century.
