The historical development of the Mexico City milk supply system: local and global contradictions

In order to help inform interventions in food supply systems, urban areas, and sustainable development, this paper traces the development of the milk supply system to Mexico City. The co-evolution of urban supply and demand f actors with policy objectives is dealt with in three distinct periods. (1) The early 20th century in which milk production became an end in itself of cattle raising, with the introduction of new forage crops and the concept o f the 'dairy basin'. (2) The period of the paternalist state is characteris ed by policy objectives to support Mexican dairy producers and ensure milk supply to the burgeoning urban population. To these ends, there was increas ing government intervention in cattle breeding and production systems, dist ribution and processing of milk, and the importation of powdered milk from international stocks. (3) The neoliberal period included a retreat of the s tate from quality control enforcement, the inclusion of imported milk the i ndustrialisation process of products for national sale, and concentration o f dairy enterprises into fewer hands. While ealier policy objectives have i ndeed been achieved, three contradictions pose a threat to the systems sust ainability: the disarticulation of national supply and demand by means of t he financial attractiveness of imported milk stocks; the now minimal contri bution of the urban area to its own milk consumption, and the poor quality of industrialised milk products reaching the consumer. It is expected that the system will persist essentially unchanged in the near future, as the va rious actors involved each act in their own self-interest. Constructive int erventions should focus on the contradictions created by the pursual of pre vious policy approaches, and necessarily address issues of sustainability a t various scales. (C) 2000 Published by Elsevier Science Ltd.