Globalization of Agriculture

The world's agrifood systems have been transformed by a process of globalization in which ever-closer functional integration of the world's economies has occurred, supported by the Internet, the rise of transnational corporations, and the removal of many barriers to trade and investment. This review outlines the key characteristics of globalization and then details the changes occurring to agriculture and the broader agrifood system. It addresses the worldwide spread of productivist, specialized, industrial-style farming methods and their consequences, both positive and negative. The review focuses on three key issues: the world's capability to produce enough food to feed humankind; the important roles played in shaping globalization by transnational corporations, global finance, and government policies; and the emerging challenges to globalization. The first of these addresses the current debate regarding whether it is possible to maintain ecological diversity while producing sufficient food to feed the world. The other issue acknowledges that outcomes of global processes are spatially uneven and strongly contested by forms of agriculture antithetical to the homogenized, capitalist, neoliberal model associated with globalization.