The Impact of Food Industry Globalization on Agricultural Trade Policy

Abstract

It has long been an oddity that the food industry has been so quiet when it comes to influencing agricultural policy. Of course, some industry groups have made their position known on certain aspects of agricultural legislation, but, in general, the agri-food processing sector and the distribution sector have not exerted a major influence on policy. Academic interests have reflected this reality; the vast majority of analytical treatments of the politics of agricultural policy and agricultural trade have focussed on the influence of the farm lobby and their supporters in legislatures. Conventional wisdom considers consumer interests weak and diffused, and, hence, they have rarely received much political attention. Farm policy anomalies, such as the fact that massive transfers are made to relatively few small businesses from consumers or taxpayers, are explained in terms of the over-representation of the rural vote, the identification of political interest with production rather than consumption activities, or public sympathy for what is perceived as a poor and backward sector.