Food and agricultural standards have recently risen to the top of both national and international agendas. Popular concerns about the power of the World Trade Organization focus on the intertwined relationships between environmental protection, labor and human rights, and the standards used to produce and supply our food and fiber globally. In the developing world, agricultural grades and standards are an important part of the reconfiguration of roles and responsibilities between various public and private actors in market reform.

This original and informative collection of studies of agri-food standards in the modern economy addresses these and helps to define the scope of the emerging study of the politics of standards setting. Following an overview essay dealing with the multiple ways of thinking about, approaching and defining food and agricultural standards, eleven case studies offer a rich body of evidence that assesses the processes, dynamics and potential consequences of global agri-food standards.

For all interested in the strategic use of food and agricultural standards - from those in national and international governmental agencies, researchers and others in the academic and private sector to those in the private business sector - this volume offers a broader perspective on and will serve as an important resource.

Inhalt
Thinking About Standards.- Introduction: A New World of Standards.- Public and International Standards.- The World Trade Organization: Ultimate Arbiter of International Sanitary and Phytosanitary Standards?.- Circulations of Insecurity: Globalizing Food Standards In Historical Perspective.- The International Office of Vine and wine (OIV) and the World Trade Organization (WTO): Standardization Issues In The Wine Sector.- Regulatory Processes.- Negotiating Standards for Animal Products: A Procedural Appoach Applied to Raw Milk.- The Indivisibility of Science, Policy and Ethics: Starlink™ Corn and the Making of Standards.- Standards and State-Building: The Construction of Soybean Standards in Brazil.- Paradoxes of Innovation: Standards and Technical Change in the Transformation of the US Soybean Industry.- Access and Ethical Trade.- Defining a Good Steak: Global Constructions of What is Considered the Best Red Meat.- Improving The Access of Small Farmers in Africa to Global Markets through the Development of Quality Standards for Pigeonpeas.- China and Global Organic Food Standards: Sovereignity Bargains and Domestic Politics.- Cotton in West Africa: A Question of Quality.- Conclusions and Future Agenda.- Shaping a Policy and Research Agenda.