The Industrialisation of Meat and its Implications: Exploring Governance, Power, and Inclusion in the South African Beef Value Chain

Abstract As with meat production in much of the Global South, beef production in South Africa has become increasingly industrialised. What does this entail for governance and power relations in meat value chains, and what are the implications for widely shared aspirations to build ‘inclusive’ value chains that incorporate smallholder livestock farmers? The paper finds that the mid-sections of the chain have become increasingly concentrated, with vertically integrated industrial feedlots emerging as powerful actors. These exert not only forms of dyadic bargaining power, but also demonstrative power shaping farming norms. New biosecurity imperatives and farmer capability requirements accompany the intensification of industrial meat production, which is accelerated in this case by a drive for export-led growth and competition with cheaper proteins. These elevate barriers to value chain participation, and may generate important tensions with the institutional, ecological and social conditions of smallholder cattle farming.