The Intimate Commodity: Food and the Development of the Agro-Industrial Complex in Canada - Softcover

Food is the "intimate commodity", so called because it is a product we consume within our very bodies. But is it actually nurturing us or is it slowly killing us in the "developed" countries? "The Intimate Commodity" examines power and control within the Canadian food economy. It looks at the growing influence of the agricultural producers with the rise of a dynamic agrarian movement, and then examines the shift in the balance of power since World War II with the rise of the major food manufacturing consortiums and the retail food chains. These have achieved a remarkable degree of concentration in the Canadian market-place. The social and political changes brought about by economic developments such as the Free Trade agreement and the current recession are explored. The concluding chapter contains a case study of the takeover of Canada's largest food firm, "Canada Packers", and generalizes beyond this to analysis of the future of the food economy and beyond. This book should be suitable for courses in rural sociology, community studies, public policy, geography and Canadian studies.

Antony Winson is the author of "Coffee and Democracy in Modern Costa Rica: Between the Lines" (1989).

Anthony Winson is a professor in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology, University of Guelph.