Editorial
Agribusiness
3 articles
Why the Producer Sells Raw Material and the Consumer Buys Meaning
The gap between the price of a sack and the price of a cup is neither accident nor malice. It is the result of three machines operating simultaneously: one that sets commodity prices, another that distributes bargaining power throughout the chain, and a third that manufactures meaning — and only the last one has margin, because only it produces something that cannot be substituted.
From Sack to Shelf: Who Captures Value When Raw Material Becomes a Brand
The grain is the same at both ends of the chain, the price is not. The difference is not explained by freight, tax, or retail margin: it compensates whoever controls the narrow link in the chain and whoever owns the meaning the product carries. Two distinct appropriations—and a practical question about how to escape being on the wrong side of it.
The cushion is back — and industry is no longer under it
In 2025 Brazil exported a record US$348.7 billion, with record volumes of iron ore, soybeans and oil all at once. In the same country, manufacturing accounts for less than 11% of GDP. An LSE thesis explained how the wealth of the soil financed Brazil's factories. This investigation asks what happened to the plumbing between the two.