New! Improved? The Transformation of the Global Agrifood System*

TLDR

The last decade has seen a dramatic rise in global food and agricultural trade, and while much analysis focuses on the WTO, other regulatory forms have far greater consequence. This study examines agrifood system changes enabled by the WTO and assesses the rise of global private standards. WTO‑implemented rules, regulations, and institutions have facilitated private sector consolidation and international expansion, with food retailers becoming increasingly global and oligopolistic, placing the private sector and retailers at the heart of the agrifood system transformation.

Abstract

Abstract The last decade has witnessed a dramatic rise in global trade in food and agricultural products. While much analysis has focused on the role of the World Trade Organization (WTO) in this process, we argue that other forms of regulation are of far greater consequence. In this paper, we examine changes in the agrifood system made possible by the WTO and we assess the rise of global private standards. We argue that the new global rules, regulations, and institutions implemented by the WTO have facilitated the ability of the private agrifood sector to consolidate and expand internationally. Of particular importance is the growing influence of food retailers as they rapidly become more global and oligopolistic. The article concludes that today it is the private sector, and retailers in particular, together with private standards that are at the center of the transformation of the global agrifood system.