The current food economy is characterized by immense contradictions. Food mountains, bountiful supermarkets and rising levels of obesity stand in stark contrast to widespread hunger and malnutrition. Transnational companies dominate the market in food and benefit from subsidies, whilst farmers in developing countries remain impoverished. Food miles, mounting toxicity and the 'ecological hoofprint' of livestock mean that the global food economy rests on increasingly shaky environmental foundations. This book looks at how such a system came about, and how it is being enforced by the WTO. Ultimately, Weis considers how we can find a way of building socially just, ecologically rational and humane food economies. Book jacket. Distributed by Syndetic Solutions, Inc.

Tony Weis is Assistant Professor of Geography, University of Western Ontario, Canada Distributed by Syndetic Solutions, Inc.

Preface	1
1 The global food economy: contradictions and crises	11
2 The temperate grain-livestock complex	47
3 From colonialism to global market integration in the South	89
4 Entrenching an uneven playing field: the multilateral regulation of agriculture	128
5 The battle for the future of farming	161
Bibliography	190
Index	208

Distributed by Syndetic Solutions, Inc.