Abstract
The US food retailing industry continues to concentrate and consolidate. Power in the agriculture, food, and nutrition system has shifted from producers to processors, and is now shifting to retailers. Currently, only eight food-retailing corporations control the majority of food sales in the United States. Expanding on previous research by Lyson and Raymer (2000, Agriculture and Human Values 17: 199–208), this paper examines the characteristics of the boards of directors of the leading food retailing corporations and the indirect interlocks that bind the food retailers into a corporate community.
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Acknowledgments
We are especially grateful for Jeff Sobal’s support during the entire research, writing, and editing process. We would also like to thank the four anonymous reviewers for their insightful comments. An earlier version of this paper was presented at the annual joint meeting of the Agriculture and Human Values Society and the Association for the Study of Food and Society in 2005.
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Rachel Schwartz is a PhD Candidate in the Department of Development Sociology at Cornell University. Her research interests are focused on the relationship between food retailers and food consumers in the United States, especially in regards to the construction of the concept of “choice.”
Thomas Lyson was Liberty Hyde Bailey Professor in the Department of Development Sociology at Cornell University. His interests included the relationship of agriculture and food systems on community economic development and population health. His most recent book, Civic Agriculture, developed a problem-solving model for food and agriculture issues. Dr. Lyson passed away in December 2006.
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Schwartz, R., Lyson, T. Retail relations: an interlocking directorate analysis of food retailing corporations in the United States. Agric Hum Values 24, 489–498 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10460-007-9085-x
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10460-007-9085-x