Skip to main content Skip to search Skip to search

History General

Kill and Chill

Restructuring Canada's Beef Commodity Chain

by (author) Ian MacLachlan

Publisher
University of Toronto Press
Initial publish date
Dec 2001
Category
General, Human Geography, Economic History
  • Paperback / softback

    ISBN
    9780802078322
    Publish Date
    Dec 2001
    List Price
    $54.00
  • Hardback

    ISBN
    9780802008473
    Publish Date
    Dec 2001
    List Price
    $113.00
  • eBook

    ISBN
    9781442676503
    Publish Date
    Nov 2001
    List Price
    $114.00

Classroom Resources

Where to buy it

Description

Both horrified and fascinated by a visit with his geography students to the Canada Packers Lethbridge plant, Ian MacLachlan searched for a book that would explain the main features of the Canadian meat packing industry. Finding very little available, he set about writing an account of the industry that is both an economic geography and economic history.

Comprehensive in its treatment of the whole system surrounding the Canadian beef industry, Kill and Chill offers a history of the structural changes in Canada's cattle and beef commodity chain, beginning with calf production and cattle feeding on farms and feedlots. It goes on to describe the changes in cattle marketing, the historical development of meatpacking-in particular the emergence of Canada's 'Big Three' meatpacking firms-and the rise of meatpacking unionism. Carrying the story almost to the present with the takeover of Maple Leaf by the McCain family in the mid-1990s, the work concludes with a discussion of current trends in retail beef marketing.

About the author

Ian MacLachlan is an Associate Professor in the Department of Geography at the University of Lethbridge.

Ian MacLachlan's profile page