Why Soy Succeeded

Austria in Its Transnational Setting, 1950–2020

Abstract

This article explores the driving and impeding forces behind the rise of soy as feed, food, and arable crop in Austria between around 1950 and 2020. Drawing on the food regime approach, transition theory, and commodity chain analysis, it investigates the formation of soy networks in Austria and their transnational connections. Using qualitative and quantitative data, it illustrates three periods: hidden beans (1948–1973), contested beans (1973–1995), and flexible beans (1995–2020). In the 1950s and 1960s, introducing soy cake as animal feed marked Austria’s integration into the US-centred regime. During the 1970s and 1980s, several attempts to establish domestic soy cultivation denoted a shift towards a more nationally framed food regime. From the 1990s to the 2010s, a new wave of globalization, Europeanization, and regionalization of soy (GM-free and organic seeds) occurred. Austria became part of the dominant WTO-centred regime as well as the emerging EU-centred regime, combining domestic production and international trade in flexible ways. Key factors behind the Austrian soy expansion include state actions, international agreements, initiatives by business and civil society, and broader nutritional and ecological questions. The article’s empirical evidence contributes to theoretical debates on food regimes with regard to transitional periods and multiscalar structures.