ABSTRACT
This chapter details the internal transformation of farming brought about by those relations during the second and third food regimes. The political economy of food have considered mainly the external relations of the farm sector as regards non-farm capitals. The term commoditization describes the process of agrarian transformation from non-market to market forms of production. As farm businesses and farm households are drawn into a dependency on non-farm goods and inputs purchased in the market, they are compelled to produce agricultural commodities with an exchange value in order to obtain a cash income. Appropriationism describes the partial but persistent transformation into industrial activities of certain farm-based labour processes, and their subsequent reintroduction into the food system in the form of purchased farm inputs and processed food outputs. The agricultural policies of developed countries have provided protection for their farm sectors from international competition, while price subsidies on farm produce have assisted in the persistence of small and medium-sized farms.
