Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
tion of this hapter: that securing the livelihoods of Developed World agricultural-
ists shifted from being almost irrelevant in the First Food Regime to being a central
plank of state policy and investment during the Cold War. It became absolutely im-
perative to ensure food security in the Developed World, with the resulting surpluses
being seen as a global strategic opportunity rather than an economic problem. In this
context, what is clearly revealed is that the subsequent 'feed the world' rhetoric that
animated the Western mission to the Developing World during the Cold War was
inextricably linked, and partly originated from, the need to find a way to secure the
incomes and productivity of Developed World farmers themselves. This need stood
prior to, and superior to, the need to feed the hungry of the world. Put simply, faced
with a mounting problem of world hunger post-Second World War, the response was
not so muh 'let them eat cake' as 'let them eat our cake': this resulted in the teh-
nocratic and policy hallenge of how to ensure that Developed World farmers were
able to produce lots of cake!
Three emerging models for securing Developed World incomes
for Developed World farmers
The answer to the problem of securing livelihoods for Developed World farmers
took three forms - all reflecting the different positioning of key countries in the
Developed World during the Cold War years. While the specific history of
agriculturally-related trade negotiations is outlined in the hapter by Prithard (this
topic), the key point for this argument is that the necessity of accommodating vary-
ing policy trajectories and models had been accepted by the Western powers post-
Second World War, and meant that agriculture was actually exempted on food se-
curity grounds from being discussed under any of the GATT (General Agreement on
Tariffs and Trade) negotiations until the Uruguay Round in 1985.
As outlined in the previous section, the irst decisive move into the policy meh-
anisms that would underpin the Second Food Regime emerged in the US.
The US model
The US had, since the earliest years of industrialization, retained a particular eco-
nomic configuration that reflected the fact that a substantial portion of the US
was geographically well-suited to sustain farming activities. Hence, during the New
Deal, specific measures were directed at supporting agricultural incomes. During the
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