This book traces the rise and fall of the Canadian Wheat Board, revealing how trade, international relations, and food politics have influenced the grain industry in prairie Canada, the UK, and around the world.
Description
Over the course of a century, the Canadian Prairies went from being the breadbasket of the world to but one of many grain-growing regions in a vast global agri-food system. Magnan traces the causes and consequences of this evolution, from the first transatlantic shipments of wheat to the controversial dismantling of the Canadian Wheat Board. When Wheat Was King reveals how farmers, governments, and consumers, over successive periods, responded to industrialization, international trade rules set by the US, the liberalization of global markets, and the consolidation of corporate power. The result is a fascinating look at how regional, national, and international politics have influenced agriculture and food industries in Canada, the UK, and around the world.
Reviews
In his careful scholarly way, [Magnan] paints a picture of a large government bureaucracy that re-invents itself at crucial points, responding to changes in global political-economy while keeping the interests of Canadian farmers front-and-centre. In the age of Bernie Sanders and Jeremy Corbyn, Magnan’s subtle, indirect—and so convincing and authoritative—defense of the role of government in a market economy may be this book’s most important legacy.
- James Murton, Associate Professor of History at Nipissing University