Key drivers of the food chain

Recent developments in agro-food production, trade, and consumption point to a potential end of the commoditization process of food. Commoditization has been described by agricultural economy historians as a process through which food increasingly became a tradable merchandise as other commercial products. Through the industrial revolution and the green revolution, food became "disembedded" from its social and local economic functions. Profound specificities of food, such as its role in social relations and ecosystem management, however, could never be totally absorbed by the process of commoditization, because of strategic issues entailed in the free trade agenda. This chapter looks at today's key drivers of the food chain and finds significant evidence that a process of de-commoditization might be at work in the agro-food sector. The failure of agricultural trade liberalization, the rise of alternative distribution networks relying on values such as fairness, the reintroduction of organic and ecological agricultural methods, and the "turn to quality" in food consumption are all identified as key drivers of the de-commoditization of the food chain.