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Witness History: The Great American Grain Robbery

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08/04/2022 GMT

The Great American Grain Robbery

BBC World Service - Witness History, The Great American Grain Robbery

How a catastrophic trade deal between the US and Moscow sparked a global food price shock

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)

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