The Global Food Industry
The food industry is an organized system of global businesses that come together to serve the general public by supplying through expansive means much of the food energy that the population of our world consumes. This can even include farmers who grow and provide the food to the industry, although they are considered only on the outskirts of our food industry. The food industry includes the following categories: regulation, research and development, manufacturing, agriculture, food processing, marketing, retail, and wholesale and distribution (FSA, 2008). The Economic Research Service of the USDA defines the food industry as follows: “The U.S. food marketing system links farms to consumers via food manufacturing, wholesaling, and retailing (food stores and foodservice facilities). The cost of marketing services, including transportation, processing, and distribution of farm products, account for a substantial portion of food prices, with the farm value component accounting for the remainder.” (Martinez, 2007). The total amount that was spent for all food consumed in the U.S. during the year 2007 was $1,139.4 billion dollars, which is a 5.4 percent increase from $1,081.4 billion in 2006.
The sales of supply and demand of the food industry tend to subsist greatly on consumer trends and preferences. Although these corporations direct their attention towards the food production sales at selling towards large quantities of food to corporations, consumer sales are the source where most of the profits lie. As a result, these areas are maximized in the sense that the marketing of wholesales and distribution of global businesses focus an exceptional amount of attention on both consumer and business groups alike.
Suppliers can include those companies that receive the food produced by farmers who produce products through cultivation of plants and the raising of domesticated livestock, and sell them to buyers in the food market. For suppliers, the money is...
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