Global shifts in agro-industrial capital and the case of soybean crushing: Implications for managers and policy makers

Tremendous shifts are occurring in the location of agro-industrial capital around the globe. To focus discussion on this topic a session was convened at the annual meeting of the International Food and Agribusiness Management Association in Montreux, Switzerland in June of 2004. The session brought together researchers and industry leaders to better understand these dramatic shifts and the implications they hold for the agri-food system. The following article emerges from that session. The first part of the article provides the context for the discussion by looking at global shifts in soybean processing investment. The second part entails reaction by three industry panelists.