ABSTRACT
The globalization of agriculture has accelerated since the 1980s, driven by a neo-liberal agenda that seeks to dismantle the welfare components of established national policies. This includes the move to ‘deregulate to re-regulate’ in order to establish a new post-Fordist accumulation dynamic and associated modes of governance.1 Nevertheless, the nature of post-Fordism has been the subject of intense debate, with the more structuralist readings apparently ranged against more localist and actor-centred interpretations. This is unfortunate as it establishes a false dichotomy that forecloses discussion of the potential resolution of this conceptual division. It tends to marginalize attempts to explain change via reference to the role of class, political action and state mediation in framing and driving forward the restructuring process and associated changes in governance (see Potter and Tilzey 2005 for detailed discussion).
