Widening and Deepening

Soy Expansions as Regional Sites of Globalization

Abstract

Taking as point of departure soy’s omnipresence in everyday life, this article investigates agro-food globalization in the twentieth century through the lens of soy as a commodity. From an exogenous view, soy’s commodification was driven by state and corporate projects, widening and deepening the regional frontiers of global food regimes. From an endogenous view, soy as a versatile crop rich in fat and protein drove these projects as industrial raw material, animal feed, and human food. The cases of Northeast China and the US and Brazilian Midwest highlight various modes, systemic forces, and actors as well as socio-natural impacts of soy expansions as regional sites of globalization. Soy was not only passively transformed into a global commodity but also played an active albeit paradoxical role as both protagonist and antagonist of the prevailing food regime.