Over the past decade, concerns regarding food safety and access to and control over food have become widespread in South Korea and are often associated with concerns over the global agri-food system. Large consumer cooperatives that have memberships that can exceed 800,000 members have emerged as a popular and effective way of addressing these concerns. Yet, these important alternatives to the global agri-food system have received little attention by researchers and policymakers alike. This study investigated attitudes towards an ongoing agricultural and rural crisis and food concerns for consumers and farmers in South Korea. Further, the roles of consumer cooperatives in addressing this crisis and as an alternative to the global food system were documented. Surveys were conducted with 412 conventional consumers and 452 consumers that were members of consumer cooperatives as well as 166 conventional farmers, and 118 farmers that grow food for these cooperatives. In addition, 11 Korean food experts that reflect a wide diversity of stakeholder interests including government, NGO, universities and farmers were also interviewed. Korean consumers identified that freshness was the most important factor when they purchase foods, followed by food safety and price. It seemed that the global agri-food system is unlikely to address these consumer concerns. Public rallies that raised concerns about the import of beef from the US reflected widespread public resistance to agricultural globalization and the pursuit of economic liberalization by the Korean government. Participants perceived that government policies neglected domestic agriculture and were the primary cause of low rate of food self-sufficiency in Korea. Both conventional farmers and member farmers strongly opposed policies that promote industrial economic growth at the expense of local farmers and food systems. Farmers in this study were generally highly critical of the global agri-food system, especially those that were relatively young and well educated. Member farmers benefitted from their relationships with consumer cooperatives, and earned an 11-30% premium compared to farmers that sell their products to large retail markets. Korean consumer cooperatives represent an important frame for building alternative food systems and for promoting cooperation between consumers and farmers into the future. / February 2016

Made available in DSpace on 2015-03-13T17:10:35Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 GleydsonPA.pdf: 815402 bytes, checksum: f9fe659f406ddf369252439d01c18227 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2005-11-18 / This research talks about the insertion of the borough Ipangua?u-RN on the agricultural globalization process from 1979 to 2003. At the first moment (1979-1992) with the construction of the A?u?s barrage and the entry of agricultural national enterprises and secondly (1993-2003) with the entry of the multinational Del Monte Fresh Produce enterprise. During all this insertion period the impacts on the local land market. To make the research operational, it was tried to analyze documents of the local registry office and all the local, national and international bibliography about this issue during all the study period. Furthermore, interviews were made. At the ending of this thesis, the results show intensification of the agricultural capitalization on this borough, changing of the productive axis which heads to the external market and the land concentration of this borough. It was concluded that the insertion of this borough in the globalization system will increase the external intervention on Ipangua?u blocking, then, the access if the local population to the land / O presente trabalho versa sobre a inser??o do munic?pio de Ipangua?u RN no processo de globaliza??o da agricultura durante o per?odo de 1979 a 2003, o qual, num primeiro momento (1979-1992) com a constru??o da Barragem de A?u e a entrada das empresas agr?colas nacionais e, num segundo momento (1993-2003) com a chegada da multinacional Del Monte Fresh Produce. Durante todo o per?odo de inser??o se analisa os impactos para o mercado fundi?rio local. Para operacionalizar a pesquisa buscou-se fazer um trabalho de an?lise dos documentos do cart?rio local durante todo o per?odo do estudo, al?m de empreender entrevistas e analisar toda a bibliografia sobre o tema a n?vel local, nacional e internacional. Ao final do trabalho se chega a resultados que mostram a intensifica??o da capitaliza??o da agricultura do munic?pio, a mudan?a do eixo produtivo que se volta para o mercado externo e a intensifica??o da concentra??o fundi?ria no munic?pio. Com isso, se conclui que essa inser??o do munic?pio na l?gica global vai aumentar a inger?ncia externa no munic?pio, controlando entre outras coisas o seu eixo produtivo e aumentando a concentra??o fundi?ria local, impedindo assim o acesso a terra da popula??o local