ABSTRACT
Many of the key structural trends evident at the beginning of the Pre-Productivist Period were still evident at the start of the Productivist Period. Population continued to rise throughout the Pre-Productivist Period and had reached a high point of 2 000 000 000 by 1930. By the beginning of the Productivist Period, between 15% and 29% of the world’s population was urbanised, and generally limited with respect to food production and/or food collection opportunities (University of North Colorado 2003). Market-based agriculture had become institutionalised as ‘the’ model for agriculture over much of the globe, and industrial principles of agricultural production and management were beginning to be widely applied. In general, this led to the continued intensification of agricultural production and the increased use of, and reliance on, crop protection agents. More importantly, however, the beginning of the Productivist Period is marked by a virtual collapse of the First Food Regime.
