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Marketplace

Globalisation

When you walk into a supermarket you are able to choose food products from almost anywhere in the world. Access to worldwide goods and services is part of what is often described as globalisation. Many people and governments see globalisation as a desirable and progressive development, however, not everyone agrees that the changes are beneficial or equitable.

In the option strand, Contemporary Food Issues: Marketplace you will study this issue and you are asked to examine how it affects the food supply in both developed and developing nations.

Outcomes
This material addresses aspects of the following syllabus outcome:

H3.2 A student independently investigates contemporary food issues.

Extract from Stage 6 Food Technology Syllabus © Board of Studies NSW 1999.

Globalisation is a complex issue and you need to be able to identify and discuss this issue from different viewpoints as well as from your own opinions. If you conduct an Internet search you will find many references relating to globalisation (globalization), however, remember that you need to focus on issues directly related to food trade, availability and consumption.

Activities and further reading

Below are some suggested references, sites and questions that may assist your understanding of different aspects of this topic.

1.	Read the information sheet Trade, a way out of poverty?, published by World Vision. Click here to download the pdf file. Use this information sheet to consider: the development of the World Trade Organisation what is meant by managed trade arguments against free trade why free trade may not benefit developing nations.
2.	The discussion paper, What is this thing called globalisation? , gives a good overview of the Australian Government's view on globalisation and its importance to the Australian economy. Answer these questions to summarise your findings: List some of the issues raised by those who oppose globalisation. See page 5. List the reasons to support globalisation raised by those who are advocates. See pages 56. In this paper on globalisation the author has broken globalisation down to four dimensions: trade investment organisational change new economy technologies. Under each heading summarise some of the main points discussed on pages 812 Answers
3.	The World Bank provides an excellent discussion of the issues in a paper entitled Globalization, Growth and Poverty: Building an Inclusive World Economy . Explain how globalisation has affected integrating countries such as China , India and Hungary . Which countries have not been integrated into the global economy effectively? How can richer countries help to improve the situation? Summarise the seven-point action plan described in the article. Answers
4.	Read the article All the way with USA on trade (Sydney Morning Herald, November 15, 2002 ). You will need to pay a small amount of money for this article. Consider: the trade barriers currently in place and how trade liberalisation would change this the positive and negative effects on Australian consumers and different sectors of the food industry.
5.	The International Forum on Globalisation (IFG) is an alliance of sixty leading activists, scholars, economists, researchers and writers formed to stimulate new thinking, joint activity and public education in response to economic globalisation. A number of programs are described here . Their web site also offers a range of discussions on alternatives to economic globalisation. The IFG News room is a good place to start. It is not particularly user friendly and you will have to look for food related articles. However there is a particularly good article from Time magazine: Vandana Shiva, Seeds of Self-Reliance . How does Vandana Shiva's concern for agricultural diversity relate to globalisation? What are the main achievments of Navdanya (Nine seeds)? What does Vandana Shiva believe is the challenge for genetic engineers? Answers
	Extension A UK discussion paper, Barriers to re-localisation of food production and supply argues the case for a local rather than global food system. This is a complex and very long document. Click here to read some quotes from this article.