GrainsGrains - particularly maize, rice, and wheat - are the central component of most people’s diets, but we rarely stop to think about the wider role they play in national and international policy-making, as well as global issues like food security, biotechnology, and even climate change. But why are grains so important and ubiquitous? What political conflicts and economic processes underlie this dominance? Who controls the world’s supply of grains and with what outcomes? In this timely book, Bill Winders unravels the complex story of feed and food grains in the global economy. Highlighting the importance of corporate control and divisions between grains - such as who grows them, and who consumes them - he shows how grains do not represent a unitary political and economic force. Whilst the differences between them may seem small, they can lead to competing economic interests and policy preferences with serious and, on occasions, violent geopolitical consequences. This richly detailed and authoritative guide will be of interest to students across the social sciences, as well as anyone interested in current affairs. |
Contents
List of Figures | |
Grains and the US Food Regime | |
The Search for New Markets | |
Feed Grains Food Grains and World Hunger | |
Genetically Engineered Grains | |
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access to land agricultural policy agricultural production agrifood corporations Asia beef biofuels biotechnology Brazil British food regime Cairns Group Canada canola Chapter China Clapp competition contributed corn Corn Laws countries crops divisions between grains Europe example expansion export subsidies famines feed grains food grains food riots food security free trade GATT geopolitics of grains global food crisis global food system global meat Golden Rice grain markets grain production grains and feed hectares hunger and food important India industry insecurity international commodity agreements Japan land expropriation land reform liberalization maize and soybeans maize production meat consumption Mexico million Monsanto NAFTA national policies organizations Pakistan particularly peasants percent of world political price supports production controls production increased protection quinoa reduce rice exports rice production role shift South Korea StarLink supply management policy Syngenta tariffs University Press wheat wheat exports wheat production world economy world hunger