A History of the Global Wheat Trade: Actors and Dynamics (1840-1914) (Routledge Explorations in Economic History)

During the second half of the 19th century, a new global market for wheat came to the fore.Ever since, scarce and perishable food has been transformed into a modern global commodity, millions of tons of which is sold, bought, and transported across the oceans, providing the “daily bread” for a fast-growing world population. This book explores the historical origin of the global wheat market, offering an actor-centred view of the history of this new global commodity.The contributions to this volume demonstrate that the development of the global wheat trade through the late 19th and early 20th centuries has not only impacted the world food regime, it also led to the dissemination of new economic institutions.Countless technological innovations, such as elevators or telegraphic lines, have paved the way to the creation of new financial tools for trade, such as futures and grain exchanges, which transformed the market.The book also examines new global actors, such as Cargill, Louis-Dreyfus