Impacts of a Borderless Society, Essay Example

Origins of Two Meals

The process of actually investigating where my food specifically comes from is not something I associate with a meal, yet the legwork was illuminating. The first meal I chose to look into was my breakfast, and for this I had two eggs, a few turkey sausages, rye toast, butter, and preserves. In this instance, all of the products were purchased at my local supermarket. The eggs, cage-free and accordingly more expensive, were the product of Jeffersonville, Pennsylvania. The sausages were from the more southern locale of Madison, Tennessee, and the bread was from a major retailer located in Horsham, Pennsylvania. The butter I used is a product of Minnesota, while the preserves are produced in Roseland, New Jersey. As is obvious, all the components of this breakfast were made and sold in the United States, although I cannot know if ingredients in their manufacture, such as oils or the actual fruit in the preserves, were obtained outside of the country.

It seems to me that transport in bulk is the largest consideration, when it comes to tracing how this food came to my table, and I would surmise that the trucking industry is the responsible agent. As modern interstates link the nation far more effectively than the early American modes of transport by water, or even of the later railways, goods from any American region can make their way to distant ones. Far more “global” in character was my dinner, for I elected to prepare certain foods that came to me as gifts. The pasta I used was of American origin; Barilla, a standard brand manufactured in Ames, Iowa. I used a virgin olive oil  marketed by the supermarket chain, but produced in Italy. Then, I prepared a puttanesca sauce that came to me, dry, from Borghini, Italy, and pecorino and parmigiano cheeses also from Italy and marketed through an Internet retailer based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The latter items were, as noted, gifts, and I purchased the pasta and oil from my supermarket.

I am aware that the cheeses and the sauce I used were expensive, certainly relative to U.S.-made products, and this must arise from the various additional elements in the shipping and marketing processes. On a basic level, the cheese and sauce must be transported overseas; then, international foods of this kind are typically more “prestige, or gourmet, items, and far more in the way of advertising and packaging is done, adding to the costs. Tied into these complications is the time factor.  Overseas shipping, even that done routinely, involves greater investment of time on the seller’s part, and this must be reflected in the pricing, as well as availability.

Advantages to Global Markets

Certain benefits of global markets are evident, and completely valid.  First and foremost, regions around the world are no longer limited to goods either only available locally or seasonal in output. Essentially, a successful and truly international market enables a global “menu” for all people of the world, exposing them to items never before considered accessible. Beyond this advantage, however, is one even more influential;  the International Food Policy Research Institute has done extensive studies which point to an increasing global food market as highly desirable for developing countries, for such a cooperative industry brings nations still dealing with severe economic deprivations into a vast, and beneficial, marketplace (Von Braun, 2007,  p. 4). Thanks to global access and demands now generated by it, the produce previously barely sustaining a specific region’s economy may be sold across the world.

As far as the United States is concerned, agribusiness can only improve as it expands globally, and this in turn assists the individual farmers. For example, the farmer compelled to change his cash crop due to soil and/or environmental factors is no longer reliant upon the local need for what he once produced; that is to say, modern transport and international markets now provide him with a consumer base, no matter the crop (Blank, 2008,  p. 412). This is, admittedly, a radical reinterpretation of farming, as international opportunities and challenges require a new kind of farmer. In a very real sense, today’s farmer must be an astute and wary businessman, for he is now trading in a manner completely removed from the localized activity of his forebears. What was once a simple and restricted livelihood is, today, reliant on currents in marketing and consumer needs worldwide. So daunting a challenge may be, or may be seen as, a disadvantage. Ultimately, however, the reality remains that the opportunities available to the farmer today allow for substantially greater potentials for growth and personal gain.

Negative Impacts

As the modern availability for foods once localized creates a global appetite, the numbers translate to an equal responsibility in terms of sustainability, and this is a responsibility which must be acknowledged by food grower and trading nations alike. For example, there was a recent uproar regarding Chilean sea bass as a fish seriously endangered by excessive farming. The scare was premature and the bass was never actually an endangered species (Ainsworth, 2009,  p. 37); nonetheless, the panic served to draw attention to the illegal farming going on to satisfy global markets for the fish, and which was evidently unconcerned about sustaining the species

These relates to another risk inherent in a vast, global market, that of ensuring product freshness and quality during the necessary transport. Food products today frequently must

travel thousands of miles before they are sold and consumed, and they must be durable enough to withstand  the hardships of shipping. Unfortunately, “durability and shelf-life are too often realized at the expense of palatability and nutritional content” (Kloppenburg, Hendrickson, & Stevenson, 1996, p. 37).  It seems that, given the enormous financial concerns at stake and energies involved, the critical fact that these items are food may be somewhat set aside.

Equally troubling are larger issues that impact on global markets. The very nature of this kind of vastly expanded trade means that it is reliant upon other key elements of international relations, and three potentially enormous conflicts are: genetic modification of food products, the approval of which may vary from government to government; climate changes on a global level and their unforeseen effects on world agriculture; and the inescapable connection to how a global economy develops, or fails to do so (Shaw, 2009,  p. 37). With regard to how individual nations set acceptable standards alone, there is the opportunity for dissension and risk. The World Trade Organization, which represents nations seeking to act in accordance in this arena, has within in it a necessary dispute-settling function to address these issues (Krissoff, Caswell,  2002,  p. 5).  Simply, the acceptable hygiene standards of one nation are deemed insufficient by another, and this reflects deeply rooted cultural values no global, economic incentive can ignore or eliminate

Think Globally, Act Locally

In my estimation, the imperative to “think globally and act locally” is a sensible and necessary prompt in today’s global market. What appeals to me about the phrase is that it is both powerfully responsible and sensible. It contains within it the crucial rationale that we are all limited in our arenas of effort, and that we are best advised to confine our actions to local efforts, where we can have real impact. Built within the prompting, however, is the inevitable link between the two components. If, as a responsible and aware consumer, I make my choices known in how and what I purchase, for instance, I am indirectly expressing my views on all the processes behind the goods through the power of buying. This, in turn, must eventually play into how my fellow consumers so “vote”, for the entire scenario is an electoral one. I may have minimal impact as a lone consumer; in concert with others, however, all making their values felt on the same local level, I contribute to a larger understanding and, hopefully, direction.

This goes to my thinking in regard to what the global market means to all of us. The days when consumers had the luxury of simply buying what appeals to them are gone, because a global markets demands global awareness. As the world has become so inextricably one, we are all far more aware as to the repercussions of whatever we do. The expanded world is presented to us through expanded communication, and this translates to my having an understanding today that my buying a particular brand of coffee means that I am helping to support a coalition of coffee farmers committed to decent living and working conditions for its people, as well as a high quality level of product. I am not entirely glad to have this awareness, for all responsibility brings with it effort. Nonetheless, it is an empowering, and ultimately positive, change in how I go about my own, localized marketing.

References

Ainsworth, M.  (2009.)  Fish and Seafood: Identification, Fabrication, Utilization.  Clifton Park, NY: Delmar Publishers.

Blank, S. C.  (2008.)  The Economics of American Agriculture: Evolution and Global Development.  Armonk, NY: M. E. Sharpe, Inc.

Kloppenburg, J.,  Hendrickson, J.,  &  Stevenson, G. W. (1996.) Coming Into the Foodshed. Agriculture and Human Values, Vol. 13, No. 3.  pp. 33-42.

Krissoff, B., & Caswell, J. A.  (2002.)  Global Food Trade and Consumer Demand for Quality. New York, NY: Plenum Publishers.

Shaw, D. J.  (2009.)  Global Food and Agricultural Institutions.  New York, NY: Taylor & Francis.

Von Braun, J.  (2007.)  The World Food Situation: New Driving Forces and Required Actions.  International Food Policy Research Institute: Washington, D.C.