Kill and Chill
Restructuring Canada's Beef Commodity Chain
- 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
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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.