Bolin, Amanda

FINAL RESEARCH PAPER

ANSC 184 Presentation - Farms and Cities

Farms and Cities: How Rural and Urban Environments Affect the Culture and Economics Around Food in Thailand

Introduction

Much of what the world knows about Thailand is centered around its cuisine. The importance of food in Thailand cannot be understated. Making up an important part of the country’s economy, along with playing a significant role in the culture and society of Thailand, it becomes clear that studying the role of food in Thailand can have insightful outcomes. However, much of the current research and data regarding food in Thailand is centered around urban communities, such as the capital city, Bangkok. About half of the population in Thailand still lives in rural areas, and they mainly comprise the nation's agricultural sector. To truly understand the effects of food on the whole of Thailand, there must be a comparison between the urban capital and the rural homes. To ensure that broad generalizations of rural Thailand aren’t made, a specific region has been chosen to limit data and make it more precise and accurate. The Northeast region, locally known as Isaan, will be the main region of comparison. Using the rural northeast and the urban capital, located in the central region, we can critically analyze the food industry in Thailand, and how heavily it impacts the economics and culture of the country. By directing our research to one nation, we can use it as an example in understanding how food can grow a nation, both financially on the global stage and socially through meals. Instead of making broad claims about the importance of food to humanity, limiting our research to one place can give us a more accurate picture of just how important food is to people. Thai people, and people of other nations as well, hold their food in high regard, connecting the food they eat with their own identities as people. Food can bring both financial capital and comfort, and looking at these two aspects can help people to better see the value of what they eat. By separating the effect of food based on the location, we can also learn about how our environment, both physically, economically, and socially, can cause us to experience food very differently, both for better and for worse.

The growth of Thailand’s agricultural sector, as reported by America’s International Trade Administration. The ITA also had pages on what were good industries to look into when trading with Thailand, indicating that the trading power of Thailand is growing around the world.

Source: Thailand - Agriculture - International Trade Administration.

Background

The food industry—the agricultural sector in particular—in Thailand has been growing throughout the past few decades, as seen in the chart on the left. Thailand is an emerging economy in Southeast Asia, the second-largest one in fact, according to Investopedia. From this same source, it explains that the “Leading sub-sectors include textiles, wheat milling, soybean crushing, animal feed operations as well as the hospitality industry, food retailing, and food processing” (International Trade Administration 2022). We’ll be going into more detail about food retailing in Thailand and how the industry has grown in the paper. Food is one of Thailand's most visibly important sectors of the economy. While service, industry, and tourism are larger contributors to the GDP than agriculture, the soft power that food brings for Thailand can’t be understated. Hence, learning about the second most successful emerging economy from Southeast Asia should be studied. In addition to the economic aspect of food in Thailand, this research should go hand-in-hand with the cultural aspect of food in Thailand. With street food, shared eating habits, and a preference for wet markets over grocery stores, the cultural aspect of Thailand greatly affects how food can be sold and distributed in the country, along with how it’s enjoyed on a daily basis.

Trade and Economics

Wet Markets, Grocery Stores, and the Growth of Retail Sellers

Food retailers in Thailand have grown incredibly in the past few decades. The chart on the right stops at 2013, but the increase in stores continues. As more grocery stores open up, the food that gets imported goes global. One such store, Villa Market (found in the Supermarkets section) mainly sells imported products, and despite being pricier than other stores, is growing because of people's increasing interest with global and international food. When it comes to anything pantry food, instant meals, or processed foods, convenience stores and supermarkets have become the norm to visit in the big city.

The main competitor that the retail stores face is wet markets, at least in relation to selling fresh produce. In more urban environments, despite a large majority of the population visiting supermarkets and finding their products there, many people continue to visit wet markets to get fresh produce and vegetables at more affordable prices. Because these wet markets often sell food that comes almost immediately from farms, or only pass through one middle-man before being sold, people prefer getting fresher and cheaper ingredients here. The article "The key role of intermediaries in Thailand's fresh food distribution system" explains how this proximity towards the original source is preferred, and that the quality of products are more consistently examined when sold so close to the original source. With retailers that sell to large brands or supermarkets, there is less quality control. Most people in Thailand prefer to buy their fresh produce from wet markets.

The growth of food retailers in Thailand over the years, comparing hypermarkets, supermarkets, and convenience stores with each other. There’s a growth of these establishments.

Source: “The expansion of modern trade food retailing in Thailand”

The social and economic system of trade within northeastern Thailand’s rice industry. Many connections between the farmers and producers must be made to ensure the proper distribution of materials. There are often middlemen involved in this industry, and this has caused the farmers to not be able to financially sustain themselves as well as they could if they were selling directly towards consumers or stores.

Source: “Commercialisation of Rice Farming in Northeast Thailand”

Farms and Agriculture

The rural areas of Thailand have managed to open convenience stores like 7-11, and to great success, but these retailers are not nearly as frequent as in the urban central region. In the rural Isaan region, the main connection between food and business is through the agricultural sector. Here, fields of grain and vegetables reach as far as the eye can see. However, with the growing industrialization of the food industry, farmers of this region have had to rapidly increase production to keep up with demand. Rice is a particularly fast growing industry. Farmers now need to mechanize everything to be able to produce more rice to sell, and these machines cost more money, making investments high.

On the left is a chart of how rice makes its way through the industry to get towards a consumer's plate. In the current day, rice farmers can no longer just go and sell their grains at the market. They must work with many more middle-men to be able to make a profit, often selling their rice to mills. After the mill, the rice farmer no longer has any control of where their rice goes, and so most of the money goes towards the traders and retailers that move the rice around. The farmers sell their rice to corporations and get very little profit themselves.

With climate change being a pressing issue, and rice crops being heavily reliant on rain, this poses a problem. The article "Evaluation of Climate Change Impacts and Adaptation Measures for Rice Cultivation in Northeast Thailand" explains how yields of rice will continue to fluctuate as the raining season becomes more unpredictable. As rain increases, so do the chances of floods occurring.

The Culture Behind Meals

Environmental Effects

Seen in the the map on the right, the environmental regions of Thailand are different in the Northeast and in the central region. Because of these differences in the environment, the crops that are grown in both regions are also different. In the central region, where it's a swamp ("fun" fact, Bangkok is slowly sinking because it was built over a swamp, and will start to go under water in a couple of decades), there isn't as much space to grow rice or other crop foods, and it will more often flood due to excessive water. Hence, people don't have as many large farms where they can grow more staple foods and herbs. In contrast, the rural regions are almost perfect for growing lots of crops. There, the meals are more simple and are able to be found in nature. Things like fish from the rivers, rice from the fields, and vegetables from other fields compose the cuisine in northeastern Thailand. Spices there are also easily grown, and this makes the northeastern region have quite a spicy palate of food.

Another aspect of the environment is the economic level. In the urban areas, as written earlier in the paper, there are more grocery stores and retailers. This means that, despite it being harder to grow food in Bangkok, people living there can more easily go to stores and buy what they need. This means that the cuisine found in Bangkok is much more varied, and more international dishes and restaurants can be found here.

The Value of Community

The people of Thailand are very social and outgoing, and this is reflected in how they eat. Gathering in large crowds and having the main dishes be put in the middle of the group to be easily shared with one another, eating in Thailand is all about the community and togetherness. Regardless of region, most people in Thailand share this value. This can be connected to the economic income level of families. In the past, when it was still expensive to eat and buy food, entire families would split the cost of spending between each other. Large families could afford to feed everyone because each person would go buy a different thing with what little money they had. Using the accumulated ingredients, they'd make large portions of food and feed the entire family together. Everyone would eat together as they all contributed to the meal. It was a way to bring everyone together, reflecting the importance of family in Thai culture.

The northeast (Isaan) region of Thailand has a very different ecoregion from the central region. The northeast is composed of more dry forests, while the central region is a freshwater swamp. These differences mean different ecology and plants.

Source: “An evaluation of the effectiveness of protected areas in Thailand”

An Interview Regarding Changes and Personal Perspectives

A side-note, some of these answers were translated from Thai on the spot, so please just keep that in mind as you read!

How did the food industry look like when you were young / 20 years ago?

Mom: You could find food in the fields, you didn’t have to buy it. It was very simple. Fish in the fields, plants you could grow on your own, rice was also planted on our own too. We didn’t go to restaurant. Seasonings, fish sauce, things your couldn’t make would be the things you’d buy.

Dad: In the city it didn’t look that different. The soi (alley, small street) in the back behind my office had lots of shops to eat at. They would be someone’s house on the top floors, and they had a restaurant out front on the street floor.

Do you feel like there’s been a change to the way people get their food?

Dad: More food shops, more restaurants, more imported and international food.

What’s your preferred method of getting fresh produce?

Mom: Wet markets. The people selling it there bought it from first-hand farmers. In Isaan, the farmers sold their vegetables straight from their farms.

What’s your preferred method of getting pantry foods or anything that isn’t fresh produce?

Mom: Supermarkets. If I wanted anything in bulk I'd go to Makro (the American equivalent is Costco), but everything else would be grocery stores like Tesco or Tops.

How does your family's farming business run?

Mom: The rice that is grown would be sold at the market or at the house. These people would go sell it at the mill, and that would get sold through many more people before it made it to the markets. The people who get the rice through the mill sell it to large rice corporations and brands. Jasmine rice, sweet rice, sticky rice.

How is the money side of the business?

Mom: Everything’s still being sold still, but profits are lower than before. Now, it takes a lot more money to work in a farm since everything needs to be automated and needs more labour. In the past, everything was handworked. More money is invested now, and the profits aren’t as high. The company dealers are making more money.

How has climate change affected crops?

Mom: It’s all related to the rain. No water means the rice doesn’t grow well, but sometimes it floods as well. Our family farm is in a good location. Some farms by the river, Ma Nam Khon, flooded very often.

What’s the eating culture in Thailand?

Mom: Things are more expensive now, so people are eating less. If you have a big family, then you share the expenses of eating together. However it also depends on the income.

Dad: Everyone eats together but they pay for their own. People are more social.

Do you like the changes now?

Mom: Things are more convenient, you can just run to the shop to get it. However, even if you like the changes or not, overall there isn’t much of a choice since that’s how it is now. It’s convenient but it also makes people lazy. It’s not healthy food.

Conclusions regarding the interview

My mother, who grew up in the rural provinces, has seen a great deal of change regarding the food insustry in Thailand. Her personal insight into the changes of shopping and doing business in the food industry are almost identical to the statistics and ideas found in the paper. While everything's become more convenient, she sometimes misses the simplicity and ease of getting food from her childhood. My father, who moved to Thailand 20 years ago, has also seen how Thailand's food industry has grown, and how it now resembles the food industries of developed nations such as America.

Conclusion

Food plays a large role both economically and socially, and in Thailand it’s no different. Using the urban capital of Bangkok and the rural Northeastern region, we’re able to compare and contrast how food affects the industry and people in the same country differently. Not only does this help to understand the role of food in society, but we also understand how different regions of the world use food differently. To be able to see a rising economy and its relationship with food economically and socially can help other countries to better understand how they should or shouldn’t proceed. Once we learn the value of studying food, and how its effect can differ greatly in the same country, we can begin to examine other countries with this same critical lens. With the wealth disparity in Thailand, the difference between success in rural and urban regions is heightened, and serves to show that studying anything economy-related in countries cannot be limited to the most financially successful region of that country. The industry of food is important to study, especially for a nation as connected to its food as Thailand, because much is revealed about both the state of finances in the country, and also the people and culture as well.

Reference List

75. “Thailand - Country Commercial Guide - Agriculture.” International Trade Administration | Trade.gov, July 25, 2022. Accessed March 22, 2023. https://www.trade.gov/country-commercial-guides/thailand-agriculture.

Bajpai, Prableen. “What's behind Thailand's GDP Rollercoaster?” Investopedia. Investopedia, September 26, 2022. https://www.investopedia.com/articles/investing/081815/emerging-markets-analyzing-thailands-gdp.asp.

Shannon, Randall. 2014. “The Expansion of Modern Trade Food Retailing in Thailand.” International Review of Retail, Distribution and Consumer Research 24 (5). Routledge: 531–43. doi:10.1080/09593969.2014.976764.

Shannon, Randall, and Rujirutana Mandhachitara. 2008. “Causal Path Modeling of Grocery Shopping in Hypermarkets.” Journal of Product and Brand Management 17 (5): 327–40. doi:10.1108/10610420810896086.

Suebpongsang, Pornsiri, Benchaphun Ekasingh, and Rob Cramb. 2020. “Commercialisation of Rice Farming in Northeast Thailand.” In White Gold: The Commercialisation of Rice Farming in the Lower Mekong Basin, 39–68. Springer Singapore. doi:10.1007/978-981-15-0998-8_2.

Babel, Mukand S., Anshul Agarwal, Dillip Kumar Swain, and Srikantha Herath. 2011. “Evaluation of Climate Change Impacts and Adaptation Measures for Rice Cultivation in Northeast Thailand.” Climate Research 46 (2): 137–46. doi:10.3354/cr00978.

Singh, Minerva, Charlotte Griaud, and C. Matilda Collins. 2021. “An Evaluation of the Effectiveness of Protected Areas in Thailand.” Ecological Indicators 125 (June). Elsevier B.V. doi:10.1016/j.ecolind.2021.107536.

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