The Great American Grain Robbery
How a catastrophic trade deal between the US and Moscow sparked a global food price shock in 1972.
With fears rising that the war in Ukraine might spark a big rise in global food prices, we're going back 50 years to the story of how a drought in the bread basket of the Soviet Union led to a catastrophic trade deal between Moscow and Washington. The Nixon White House unwittingly signed a grain financing contract that crippled American farmers, fuelled inflation and sent world cereal prices through the roof. Laura Jones speaks to investigative journalist Martha Hamilton and former Soviet crop scientist, Dr Felix Kogan, about what became known as "The Great Grain Robbery".
PHOTO: Golden wheat on a farm in the US state of Nebraska in the 1970s (Denver Post/Getty Images)
Last on
More episodes
Previous
Broadcasts
- Fri 8 Apr 2022 07:50GMT麻豆社 World Service
- Fri 8 Apr 2022 11:50GMT麻豆社 World Service
- Fri 8 Apr 2022 17:50GMT麻豆社 World Service except East and Southern Africa & West and Central Africa
- Fri 8 Apr 2022 21:50GMT麻豆社 World Service East and Southern Africa & West and Central Africa only
- Sat 9 Apr 2022 02:50GMT麻豆社 World Service except Australasia
- Sat 9 Apr 2022 23:50GMT麻豆社 World Service Australasia
Featured in...
Cost of living—Witness History
Listen to and download our programmes
Soviet history—Witness History
Listen to and download our programmes
Podcast
-
Witness History
History as told by the people who were there