John W. Warnock

Profit Hungry: The Food Indujstry in Canada | Monopoly Power in the System of Food Processing and Distribution

 

Profit Hungry: The Food Industry in Canada

                                                                                                            


by John W. Warnock

Vancouver: New Star Books, 1978.
ISBN: 0-919888-85-2 paperback 276 pp

 

Profit Hungry is the first comprehensive treatment of the food manufacturing and distribution system in Canada. Since World War II this sector of the Canadian food industry has been taking an increasing share of the consumer's dollar.

 

The author examines each major sector of the food and beverage manufacturing industry. Integrated into this sector-by-sector survey are the main themes in the Canadian food market: the growth of concentration of economic power in the hands of a few firms, the development of the conglomerate food firm manufacturing in many areas, the growing domination of the food industry in Canada by a few powerful U.S. corporations, and the effect on Canadians in general of a food marketing system that is just a northern region of the U.S. market.

 

The food wholesaling and retailing industry is also examined and an explanation is provided as to why this end of the food industry is so costly and inefficient. The reader in introduced to the problems of the quality of food produced in a system which survivies on the profit motive and stressed massive advertising and promotion.

 

Finally, Warnock offers an assessment of the costs of the national "cheap food policy" and explains why it is supported by the corporate sector of the economy and by the various governments which hold office in Ottawa.

 

JOHN W. WARNOCK is an orchardist living in the Okanagan Valley of British Columbia. He is also a consultant on food and agricultural issues and was a Commissioner of the Canadian Peoples' Food Commission. Prior to taking up farming he taught political economy and Canadian studies at the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon. He is author of Partner to Behemoth (1970) and is a regular contributor to Canadian Dimension Magazine and This Magazine.

 

Table of Contents

 

1 The Growth of Oligopoly and Foreign Domination
2 The Meat Industry
3 The Cereal Industries
4 The Dairy Industry
5 Processing Fruits and Vegetables
6 The Food Conglomerate
7 Three Styles of Oligopoly
8 The Beverage Industry
9 Retailing food
10 The Quality of Food
11 Conclusion

 

Note:  This book is out of print but has been available through amazon.ca and other used book services.


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