This summary assembles a number of key points that emerged during the Crawford Fund 2011 Parliamentary Conference ‘The Supermarket Revolution in Food’. The summary seeks to identify core issues or questions, including areas for socio-economic and technology research and development, and for...

In Indonesia’s urban centres, supermarkets have multiplied recently. With cheaper higher-quality commodities and better services, supermarkets have the potential to drive traders in traditional markets out of business. This paper evaluates whether that is happening. It finds that traditional...

This Sir John Crawford Memorial Address touches on aspects of the balance between demand for and supply of food, and on visionary approaches to food security that emphasise the importance of markets as well as production itself. Sir John Crawford had the vision of Australian economic integration...

Over the past two years, the oligopsony of Australia’s big two supermarkets has been put under the spotlight. Woolworths was the dominant retailer, powering ahead of Coles which was lost in the haze of a dysfunctional management team and a poor business model. With the arrival of Coles’ new...

In Thailand, as in other markets, the supermarket ‘revolution’ is seen as a ‘two-edged sword’. On the one hand, it can lower food prices for consumers and create opportunities for farmers and processors to gain access to quality-differentiated food markets and raise incomes. On the other...

There is no doubt of the increasing risk from new and emerging diseases and that such diseases have the potential for profound implications for all sectors of society. The emergence of entirely new diseases such as SARS is usually the result of changes in the way that we do things and is often...

Livestock contribute to the livelihoods of 70% of the world’s poor, including farmers, traders and labourers. The next food revolution will dramatically expand production and consumption of animal products in the developing world. This revolution, however, also threatens the livelihoods of...