small farmers from regional agrifood markets (Reardon and Berdegué, 2002).
     The significance of the changes in food retailing for pro­duction is in the restructuring of supply and distribution networks and in the development of standards enforced by retailers (Reardon and Berdegué, 2002). While food manu­facturers have sometimes embraced consolidation because it decreases transaction costs, it also distorts power in the chain and puts the food retailers in a more powerful position (Stanton, 1999). Another result of restructuring is increas­ing retailer fees, some of which cover real costs but which are also used to generate an income stream that creates more gross profit for retailers (FTC, 2000). Manufacturers attrib­uted the rising use of fees to greater retailer influence, while retailers attributed it to the increased cost of handling prod­ucts (FTC, 2000).
     In this arena of negotiated power between manufactur­ers and retailers, US retailers seem to have an edge, with bigger chains charging higher retailer fees (FTC, 2000). As power shifts to the largest retailers, evidence from the UK indicates that profitability does also (Wrigley, 1997). How­ever, retailers are at the mercy of those manufacturers who have successful brands because branding is one way to cre­ate leverage with retailers. Retailers begin to develop one-on-one relationships with dominant food manufacturers who can service their far-flung systems. Moreover, retailers can start dictating terms to food manufacturers from their position of power at the point of consumption (Mehegan, 1999). Increasing consolidation of the retail sector has es­sentially constrained the way that farmers can respond to the changing nature of the global food system (Burch and Goss, 1999).
     The point is that there exist dynamic social relation­ships within the channel from production to consumption although the trend seems to be that it is more and more difficult for smaller entities in any one sector of the chain to compete effectively. The development of these anti-compet­itive practices in supply chain management concerns many

observers, including those from business schools (Hildred and Pinto, 2002).

2.8.3 Changes in food manufacturing and processing
The major food manufacturing countries in Western Europe are France, Germany the UK and Italy. Meat, beverages and dairy are the biggest sectors, comprising 20, 15 and 15% respectively of the value of production in 2001 totaling over EUR 600 billion. It is Europe's leading industrial sector and third-largest industrial employer (Table 2-11). Concentra­tion in the food manufacturing sector is relatively low.

2.8.4 Market segmentation
One of the main changes occurring in the last 50 years in NAE can be described as a growing segmentation of the food markets and the emergence of food niche markets, such as PDO/PGI and TSG products in Europe and organic and fair trade production both in Europe and in North America. The process of market segmentation has been facilitated by the development of an increasing number of food standards and an articulated system of food labeling and certification.

Rise of uniform quality standards for food manufacturing/ retailing
In recent years there has been a great increase of a all types of standards4 in the agrifood system (e.g., food safety, food quality, environmental standards). The prominence of stan-

4 "Standards are documented criteria or specifications, used as rules, guidelines or definitions of characteristics, to ensure consistency and compatibility in materials, products and services. In use standards become measures by which prod­ucts, processes and producers are judged" (Bain et al., 2005). Standards for animal agriculture tend to focus either on food safety or product attributes, which generally encompass qual­ity concerns like meat tenderness or animal welfare issues (Ransom, 2006, 2007).