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Life after the regime: market instability with the fall of the US food regime

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  • Bill Winders
  • Alison Heslin
  • Gloria Ross
  • Hannah Weksler
  • Seanna Berry

Abstract

The US food regime maintained some degree of stability in terms of prices and production levels for commodities in the world economy. This food regime, resting on supply management policy, began to falter in the early 1970s. In the late-1980s and 1990s, notable changes occurred in the world economy regarding agriculture as the food regime became more market-oriented. The end of the twentieth century saw the breakdown of many institutions, organizations, and international agreements that had tried to stabilize prices and production from 1945 to 1975. This paper examines this period of change (roughly 1960–2010) and explores the effects on five commodities: cocoa, coffee, corn, soybeans, and wheat. These commodities offer important points of comparison. First, while cocoa, coffee, and wheat were regulated by international organizations and agreements, corn and soybeans were not. Second, the US dominated the international corn and soybean markets, but the cocoa, coffee, and wheat markets were much more competitive. And third, corn, soybeans, and wheat were commodities largely produced in the core of the world economy, while cocoa and coffee were produced in the periphery. Thus, comparing the effect of the fall of the US food regime on these commodities reveals the importance of previous regulation, the level of market competition, and geographic origin in the world economy. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2016

Suggested Citation

  • Bill Winders & Alison Heslin & Gloria Ross & Hannah Weksler & Seanna Berry, 2016. "Life after the regime: market instability with the fall of the US food regime," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 33(1), pages 73-88, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:agrhuv:v:33:y:2016:i:1:p:73-88
    DOI: 10.1007/s10460-015-9596-9
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Bill Pritchard, 2009. "The long hangover from the second food regime: a world-historical interpretation of the collapse of the WTO Doha Round," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 26(4), pages 297-307, December.
    2. Harriet Friedmann, 2009. "Discussion: moving food regimes forward: reflections on symposium essays," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 26(4), pages 335-344, December.
    3. Helen C. Farnsworth, 1956. "International Wheat Agreements and Problems, 1949–56," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 70(2), pages 217-248.
    4. Hopkins, Raymond F., 1992. "Reform in the international food aid regime: the role of consensual knowledge," International Organization, Cambridge University Press, vol. 46(1), pages 225-264, January.
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    Cited by:

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    2. Jakobsen, Jostein, 2021. "New food regime geographies: Scale, state, labor," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 145(C).

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