Sugar (Resources) 1st Edition

by Ben Richardson (Author)

18 ratings

ISBN-13: 978-0745680156

ISBN-10: 0745680151

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There is more sugar in the world's diet than ever before, but life is far from sweet for the exploited producers making nature's 'white gold' and the unhealthy consumers eating it.

Why has the billion-dollar sugar trade created such inequities? In this insightful analysis, Ben Richardson argues that the most compelling answers to this question can be found in the dynamics of global capitalism. Led by multinational companies, the mass consumption of sweetened snacks has taken hold in the Global South and underpinned a new wave of foreign investment in sugar production. The expansion of large-scale and highly-industrialised farms across Latin America, Asia and Africa has kept the price of sugar down whilst pushing workers out of jobs and rural dwellers off the land. However, challenges to these practices are gathering momentum. Health advocates warning against costly diseases like diabetes, trade unions fighting for better pay, and local residents campaigning for a cleaner environment are all re-shaping the way sugar is consumed and produced. But to truly transform sugar, Richardson contends, these political activities must also address the profit-driven nature of food and farming itself.

Editorial Reviews

Review

ÂThis is a fascinating interdisciplinary book and it covers much ground very well. It is well referenced and has a useful Âfurther readingÂ section. I would recommend it for anyone interested in the good, the bad and the ugly of our globalized food system.Â
International Affairs

"This is a fascinating interdisciplinary book and it covers much ground very well. It is well referenced and has a useful Âfurther readingÂ section. I would recommend it for anyone interested in the good, the bad and the ugly of our globalized food system."
Tim Benton, UKÂs Global Food Security Programme and University of Leeds, UK

"Ben RichardsonÂs Sugar is an intriguing survey of all things sugar, including consumption and foodways, the means of production, and how governments deal with their sugar industries and conduct their sugar-related international trade relations. True to his mission of providing a Marxist perspective, Richardson concludes by advocating for Âreform from below.Â Sugar draws on the scholarship of many sugar experts and will be a valuable resource for journalists and others researching sugar issues."
Elizabeth Abbott, Author, Sugar: A Bittersweet History

"Sugar has shaped our history and our politics; it affects our health, and influences the livelihoods of millions. Sugar is a lens on a fast-changing, globalised world, where the politics of agrarian change, international commerce, workersÂ rights and human health must be examined together. This is a fascinating book that both informs and challenges. Anyone interested in global politics, agriculture, business and social change and justice should read it."
Ian Scoones, University of Sussex

About the Author

Ben Richardson is Associate Professor in International Political Economy in the Department of Politics and International Studies, University of Warwick.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Polity; 1st edition (October 26, 2015)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 232 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0745680151
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0745680156
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 12.4 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6 x 0.82 x 8.3 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #3,877,094 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #2,023 in International Business (Books)
- #2,668 in Herb, Spice & Condiment Cooking
- #5,682 in Globalization & Politics

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Top reviews from the United States

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A wonderful book!

Reviewed in the United States on January 22, 2016

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One of the best and most accessible accounts of the political economy of sugar. This book uses a study of sugar as a way to discuss global food and agriculture practices and policies. Richardson provides the rare study that examines how sugar is consumed, exchanged, and produced today. He finds that this system hurts more people than it helps. He concludes with an insightful road map that may lead to a global policy that can undo much of that harm.

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Robert D. Harmon

the land, people and economic problems caused by sugar

Reviewed in the United States on June 24, 2016

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This is a scholarly, somewhat dry and wordy, but important study of a transnational industry. The book focuses on the "sucrose" part of the industry, that is to say, the sugars from cane and beet sugar, and not so much the corn-sweeteners or artificial sweeteners, although it does address them. The book also addresses the biofuels that the sugar industry also produces, but the book's main focus is the growth and effect of the industry, worldwide, not just its economics but how are social relations, and inequalities, remade through sugar in its production and in its consumption?

As the author demonstrates, sugar creates enormous wealth in some countries and individuals. We told sugar has millions of jobs in its farming and manufacture in more than 120 countries, as opposed to coffee's 60 and cocoa's 30. An important industry, and one involving multinational organization, and yet, in successive chapters, we see how its price variables can impoverish farmers and consumers, especially in the southern hemisphere. We see how it dominates labor markets and workers, often to their detriment, displacing many, and we see how it acquires, exploits, and depletes land. The book tells this through the larger view, no personal anecdotes here, but is still compelling nonetheless. It's not easy reading but something that economists, environmentalists and scholars interested in this field will find useful, and important.

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Overview of Global Sucrose Industry’s Problems of Health, Trade, Labor & Environment.

Reviewed in the United States on July 6, 2016

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“Sugar” is an overview of the global sugar industry, specifically the sucrose industry, written by Ben Richardson, an Associate Professor of International Political Economy at the University of Warwick, focusing on 1995-2015 with an emphasis on social inequalities created or perpetuated by the industry. Sugar is unique among agricultural plant products in that it can be extracted from both grass-crop sugar cane, which grows in tropical climates, and root-crop sugar beet, which grows in temperate climates. So there are sugar fortunes and farms all over the world. The trade in sugar was $39 billion in 2011. The crop uses 31 million hectares of land. The sugar industry employs 1.1 million people in manufacturing and tens of millions in farming. And sugar is the second-most protected agricultural commodity behind rice.

All of which magnify the scale of the problems in the sugar industry. Richardson tackles a different issue in each chapter, first presenting the topic or perceived problem followed by the push-back by citizens, NGOs, or governments. He looks first at the consumption of sugar, which quadrupled over the course of the 20th century, but which is now falling in some Western nations. He discusses how and why this happened, then the efforts of the medical community to discourage sugar consumption and some of the forms that has taken. A chapter on the international trade in sugar examines the current trend of liberalizing the trade of this once heavily-protected commodity, resulting in the “financialization” of sugar and exposure to speculation. Particularly interesting is the discussion of Cuba’s sugar industry, which imploded with the Soviet Union.

Labor practices are the subject of one chapter. In some parts of the industry, unsafe conditions, bonded labor, and underpaid or unpaid child labor are common. One solution has been modernization, which also reduces the number employed, and labor unions have made some strides. Richardson addresses the ecological impact of the sugar industry, particularly in countries where the industry has expanded greatly in recent decades: water and soil degradation, loss of biodiversity, water depletion, soil erosion, and the fight over biofuels. There have been calls for regulation by environmental organizations as well as the World Bank and the UN’s Committee on World Food Security. In his concluding chapter, Richardson points out that the “sugar lobby” is not homogenous but comprised of different actors with different, sometimes conflicting agendas.

Richardson offers some suggestions for “more ecologically sound and socially just” sugar production. These all involve policies and activism that he has already mentioned in previous chapters. Some of these suggestions, like the adoption of “appropriate technologies”, meaning non-industrial technologies, and promoting food sovereignty, seem more utopian than practical. To what extent can this combination of approaches reform the industry? And can non-industrial sugar farming meet increasing global demand? I’m sure the demand will eventually go down, but I expect it to continue to increase in the foreseeable future. “Sugar” is an overview, not an effort to be comprehensive. The chapters on trade, labor issues, and environmental impact are light on statistics. More numbers would help the reader judge the scope and severity of the problems.

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Top reviews from other countries

Charlotte

The bitter side of sugar: an analysis of the global politics of this commodity

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 6, 2016

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Sugar is the hot topic in nutrition today - in England recommendations were made last year for the population to drastically reduce consumption of 'free' sugars, and the growing obesity problem lends weight to this.

So on a public health level, and nutrition level, this book seemed to offer much to tie in with my professional interests as a health writer.

However, though there is a public health dimension to the book, it is perhaps rather more suitable for students and academics concerned with the politics and economics of the sugar industry; this is not a criticism of course. Sugar being a global commodity, there is a strong international focus as well.

The book is scholarly, but with the footnotes assembled at the back, so the text flows smoothly from page to page. Good use is made of figures.

This book would be a must-buy for university libraries. However, those seeking more detail on the nutritional issues around sugar consumption in this country would be best directed to the report from the Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition - the recommendations on carbohydrates, including sugars and fibre can be downloaded free of charge from the UK government's own website.

For consumer advice on diet, the NHS Choices website should always be the first port of call!

JMB1779

No Sugar-Coating

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 1, 2016

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Sugar, of course, is a big part of our daily lives, whether in it’s pure(r) form or as part of one of the many processed foods or drinks most of us consume.
What I hadn’t quite realised is just how big a market it is and to what extent the industry influences not only our dietary culture but also the labour market, politics and the natural environment in the producing countries.

This is a sobering run through of the main issues surrounding the industry based on the author’s 10+ years of researching the market for his PHD, employment and activist work.
There is a clear anti-capitalist stance – for good reason when you look at the way big industries like this have developed historically and seem to keep following the same track of exploiting labour, exhausting land and driving consumerism all in the name of profits for the few at the top of the economic pyramid. But it never becomes preachy; it simply lists a number of issues, the resolution of which will have an effect on all our lives. There is a plethora of sources and research to back up the claims made and it is well written in an academic, but very approachable manner. Hopefully this means that more people will pick it up!

It is also very well structured luring us in from the beginning with interesting facts and a brief history of the commodity as well as of course setting the scene for what we should expect from the rest of the book.
Chapter 2 deals with the actual consumption of sugar. How the industry has “helped” shape a new dietary culture where we not only consume a lot more than is necessary or advised, but also how the pendulum swung towards processed and long preservable foods that are much higher in sugar content and thus leading to adverse health effects.
Chapter 3 handles the exchange of sugar; how liberalization of trade and investment flows have led to global capitalist profits in the market to the detriment of labour and land. This chapter was a bit dryer than the rest of the book with a run through of some of the trade agreements that have been in place, but it also made me think of how many similarities there are to e.g. the oil market when it comes to the power to influence markets, politics and legislation – and even our culture and how we live – not to mention the futures contracts etc. where sugar is likely one of the most volatile commodities in the market.
Chapters 4 and 5 covered production by exploring the areas of labour and land respectively. It is terrible that the industry continues to use techniques developed in slave times such as the use of disempowered migrant, bonded and child labour to keep costs down and profits up. And don’t even get me started on the whole producing “green energy” (sugar cane biofuel) by exhausting the land of the producing countries…
Chapter 6 rounds up the information gathered in the previous chapters and looks at what can be done to improve on the conditions.

The author stops short of saying so, but certainly what I took away from reading it is that it really does start with each one of us taking responsibility for what and how we consume - and who we vote for.
The industry is not going to make the necessary changes as it is quite happily making profits on the back of those without a voice
There are different organisations that work to improve conditions, but they need support and real action from the rest of the community.

The facts are depressing, but the delivery is rewarding and it’s a book I would happily recommend.

Purpleheart

Analysis of the structure of the sugar industry

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 2, 2016

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'The global food system has produced a paradox; the world is simultaneously stuffed and starved. Figures from 2013 show that two billion people are deficient in micronutrients, 868 million have inadequate calorie intake, and 500 million are exposed to diet-related disease because of excessive weight gain.' Ben Johnson starts his introduction with the summary of world nutrition and then points out that 'a study of sugar has much to tell us about this situation.' His book deals with the global politics of sugar and is structured as follows:
1, Introduction
2. Growing Market, Growing Waistlines
3. Terminal Trade Dependency
4. Exploiting and Expelling Labour
5. Expanding and Exhausting Land
6. A Sweeter Deal for All?
Notes
Selected Readings
Index

Although the book has an academic feel, and Richardson aims to provide a Marxist perspective, it's very readable. I'm very interested in the subject and have devoured the recent canon of books dealing with the nutritional aspect and the food industries reshaping of the food we eat in the form of processed, added value foods. Richardson is adept in drawing political and economic conclusions on the interrelations between sugar and the ability of large food companies to 'extend the market in which their commodities can circulate.' He also points out the consequences cheap sugar has had in labour and class terms in a truly global way. an interesting read.

Andy K

Interesting

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 11, 2016

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So sugar is embroidered in politics? Interesting read in deed. This is a complex text that look at various issues such as exploitation of some workers involved in the production of sugar, people being displaced from their land to pave way for large Sugar Plantations, marginalisation of some of the world sugar producers from African (sugar can route) while favouring the temperate sugar farmers, changing the taste of products through sweetening of poor-quality snacks and fiercely marketing them, spiking sugar consumption (and ailments such as Diabetes).

Since reading the book, my eyes have opened. I specifically look at food labels and is more aware of the problems of sugar. I found the section where sugar has caused malnutrition fascinating. This is because, the malnutrition in most cases is not occurring in depraved parts of the world. The malnutrition is as a result of people, mostly children feeding on sugary foods that are almost devoid of calories, so it's like they are eating empty foods. You will see the role of state, in the whole sugar politics, where Governments have given incentives to multinational companies opening Sugar Plantations. This then brings it's own problems including over-consumption of sugar with it's resultant health problems.

A fascinating reading.

Zipster Zeus

A comprehensive, erudite assessment of sugar as global commodity

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 2, 2016

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An accomplished and unashamedly progressive-left analysis sugar as a commodity and in our globalised world, all the power and distant exploitation potential that engenders. Sugar as with coffee is perhaps one of the most used crops in the West that we are hooked to [often unwittingly] but can also do the most damage in economic, ecological and health terms on a global scale. It's also one of those commodities most of can sense does just this, every time we use it, but it is so ubiquitous now in our diet and lifestyle, we are never quite sure what damage it does not just to ourselves but other socio-economic structures, we often just shunt it to the sidelines of consciousness. This book expertly puts that right, bringing the reader quickly and often shockingly up to speed. The nature and machinations of Big Sugar are laid bare although the final chapter offers some hope and a framework for improving the situation. A comprehensive, erudite and supremely accessible assessment of sugar as a global commodity- well worth a read.

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Sugar (Resources) 1st Edition

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