The Geopolitics of Grains: Neoliberalism and Economic Conflict in Agriculture, 1975 to 2010

• In Event: 207 - Regular Session. Rural Sociology: New Directions in the Study of Agriculture and Food Systems

Abstract

Over the past 40 years, the world economy has experienced significant liberalization, and this is as true in agriculture as it is in other economic sectors. Regarding agriculture, the decline of the U.S. food regime – which rested on extensive national and international regulations and coordination of prices, production, and trade – has been at the heart of this transition. How can we explain the expansion of neoliberal policies for food and agriculture? And what effect of this shift had on agriculture in the world economy? Many scholars attempting to explain the decline of the U.S. food regime and expansion of neoliberal policies focus on the role of agrifood corporations, which are argued to have pushed for less national regulation and greater reliance on market mechanism. This common view, however, overlooks key conflicts that have long existed between producers of different commodities. In particular, divisions among grain producers – corn, rice, and wheat – have contributed to liberalization, and liberalization has in turn contributed to divisions among grain producers. This paper, then, demonstrates and analyzes the relationship between liberalization and divisions among grain producers. First, the paper explains what is meant by liberalization, particularly in regard to agriculture. Second, the paper examines how liberalization has exacerbated competition between grains by looking at a number of cases: the politics of NAFTA, the wheat trade war between the US and Europe, the battle to put agriculture in GATT, the battle of export subsidies, and the expansion of global meat consumption.

Author

• Bill Winders, Georgia Institute of Technology