Food Policy Decisions Toward The Soviet Union: The Soviet Grain Transactions, 1972; The U. S. – Soviet Grain Agreement, 1975

This chapter looks at two cases of United States (U. S.) food policy decisions involving commercial sales of agricultural products to the Soviet Union. The first case examines the 1972 Soviet grain transactions, in which Soviet grain merchants purchased some 19 million tons of grain from American exporters, and which represented the emergence of the Soviets as a major grain customer. The second case examines the events and decisions leading up to the conclusion of the U. S.–Soviet grain agreement in 1975. Between 1968 and 1971, Soviet agricultural experts were successful in considerably expanding livestock herds through a 40 percent increase in the use of livestock feed. Continental president Michel Fribourg apparently believed all along that the Soviets would one day return as major customers for Western grain, and continued to support improved economic relations between the U. S. and Soviets. The Soviet trade delegation had arrived in the U. S. on June 28 under a cloak of secrecy.