Making Poverty: A History

As rural incomes collapse and farming becomes commercialized, swallowed up by the global supply chains of giant food corporations and supermarkets, a desperate situation is emerging in which there could soon be little place left for the hundreds of millions of smallholders across the world. In this clear and intelligent book, Thomas Lines examines the role that global policies have played in creating the crisis of rural poverty. He explains the mechanisms of the markets and supply chains, charting their impact on agricultural trade in the world's poorest countries.

As rural incomes collapse and farming becomes commercialized, swallowed up by the global supply chains of giant food corporations and supermarkets, a desperate situation is emerging in which there could soon be little place left for the hundreds of millions of smallholders across the world. In this clear and intelligent book, Thomas Lines examines the role that global policies have played in creating the crisis of rural poverty. He explains the mechanisms of the markets and supply chains, charting their impact on agricultural trade in the world's poorest countries.

Thomas Lines is a freelance consultant specializing in international agricultural markets. He started his working life as a journalist reporting on the commodity and financial markets in London and Paris, and later became a lecturer in international business at Edinburgh University. He has worked as a team leader of agricultural aid projects and a policy advisor for U.N. agencies, leading NGOs, fair-trade and trade union organizations.

The author has worked in more than 40 countries and speaks fluent French and Russian. He was a candidate for the Green Party in the 2005 general election.