"pearl" wrote in message ...
...
'Crisis and opportunity in North American agriculture' John Ikerd
Emeritus professor of agricultural economics at the University of
Missouri

[extracts only, as selected by nlpwessex - original article presented at
a farm conference, "Recapturing Wealth on the Canadian Prairies,"
Brandon, Manitoba, October 26-27, 2000 - full copy available at
http://www.cropchoice.com/leadstry.asp?recid=376 ]

This paper can be read he
http://web.archive.org/web/200409280....asp?recid=376

'Today agricultural markets are dominated by the large agribusiness
corporations, certainly at every level other than the farm level, and
increasingly even at the farm level. ... Consumers don't get accurate,
unbiased information concerning the products they buy, but instead
get disinformation by design, disguised as advertising. ... The food
industry spends billions of dollars designed specifically to bend and
shape consumers tastes and preferences to accommodate mass
production and mass distribution, which enable corporate control of
agriculture. ... corporate agriculture today is designed specifically to
generate profits and growth for corporate investors. .... '