Abstract
This issue brings together a selection of articles based on presentations at two Conferences in 1997. The aim has been 1) to offer clearer and more understandable descriptions of the major trends and relationships that are involved in the structural transformations that are occurring in food systems at all levels; 2) to help develop better theoretical and conceptual tools to aid us in analyzing such restructurings and their dynamics; and 3) to clarify a number of practical issues facing those seeking to promote more sustainable and just food systems, especially at the local level. With only one exception, all the articles here focus on Western economies where food systems are highly commodified, globally integrated, corporate, and state structures have been restructured by a series of neo-liberal reforms in recent years. In pointing out the problems with these food systems, the articles also discuss various possibilities for structural reforms for more healthy, sustainable, just, and equitable food systems and societies.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Amin, A. (ed.) (1997). Post-Fordism: A Reader. Oxford: Blackwell.
Bennett, J. W. and K. A. Dahlberg (1990). “Institutions, social organization, and cultural values,” in B. L. Turner, II (ed.), The Earth as Transformed by Human Action: Global and Regional Changes Over the Past 300 Years (pp. 69–86). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Bonanno, A., L. Busch, W. Friedland, L. Gouveia, and E. Mingione (eds.) (1994). From Columbus to ConAgra: The Globalization of Agriculture and Food. Lawrence, KS: University Press of Kansas.
Busch, L. (1997). “Grades and standards in the social construction of safe food.” Invited Paper Presented at a Conference on the Social Construction of Safe Food. Trondheim, Norway, 1997. Available at: http://www.msu.edu/user/ifas/ifas.html.
Cohen, B. (1990). “Food security and hunger policy for the 1990s,” Nutrition Today 25(4): 23–27.
Dahlberg, K. A. (1998). “Sustainable food systems and rice: Exploring the interactions,” in N. G. Dowling, S. M. Greenfield, and K. S. Fisher (eds.), Sustainable Development of Rice in the Global Food System (pp. 67–92). Los Banyos, Phillipines: International Rice Research Institute.
Dahlberg, K. A. (1996). “World food problems: Making the transition from agriculture to regenerative food systems,” in Dennis C. Pirages (ed.), Building Sustainable Societies: A Blueprint for a Post-Industrial World (pp. 257–274). Armonk, New York: M. E. Sharpe.
Dahlberg, K. A. (1993). “Regenerative food systems: Broadening the scope and agenda of sustainability,” in Patricia Allen (ed.), Food for the Future: Conditions and Contradictions of Sustainability (pp. 75–102). New York: John Wiley and Sons.
Dahlberg, K. A. (1979). Beyond the Green Revolution: The Ecology and Politics of Global Agricultural Development. New York and London: Plenum Press.
Friedland, W. H. (1994). “Globalization, the state and the labor process,” International Journal of Sociology of Agriculture and Food 4: 30–46.
Friedmann, H. (1993). “Political economy of food: A global crisis,” New Left Review 197: 29–57.
Goodman, D. and M. Watts (eds.) (1997). Globalising Food: Agrarian Questions and Global Restructuring. London: Routledge.
Koc, M, R. MacRae, L. Mougeot, and J. Welsh (eds.) (1999). For Hunger-Proof Cities: Sustainable Urban Food Systems. Ottawa: IDRC Books.
Koc, M. (1994). “Globalization as a discourse,” in A. Bonanno, L. Busch, W. Friedland, L. Gouevia, and E. Mingione (eds.), From Columbus to Conagra: Globalization of Agriculture and Food. Lawrence, KS: University Press of Kansas.
Koc, M. (1990). “Understanding state policies in agriculture,” International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy 10(3): 22–40.
Marsden, T. (1994). “Globalization, the state and the environment: Exploring the limits and options of state activity,” International Journal of Sociology of Agriculture and Food 4: 139–160.
McMichael, P. (1996). “Globalization: Myths and realities,” Rural Sociology 61(1): 25–55.
McMichael, P. (ed.) (1994). The Global Restructuring of Agro-Food Systems. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.
Rayner, S. and E Malone (eds.) (1998). Human Choice and Climate Change (four volumes). Columbus, OH: Battelle Press.
Riches, G. (ed.) (1997). First World Hunger: Food Security and Welfare Politics. London: McMillan.
Select Committee on Hunger (1990). Food Security in the United States. Committee Report. US House of Representatives. US Government Printing Office.
Turner II, B. L. (ed.) (1990). The Earth as Transformed by Human Action: Global and Regional Changes Over the Past 300 Years. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Wilson, E. O. (1992). The Diversity of Life. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Winson, A. (1993). The Intimate Commodity. Toronto: Garamond Press.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Koc, M., Dahlberg, K.A. The restructuring of food systems: Trends, research, and policy issues. Agriculture and Human Values 16, 109–116 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1007541226426
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1007541226426