After the dismantling of protectionist policies under the umbrella of "structural adjustment" in the 1990s, Latin America has experienced a difficult transition to an outward-oriented growth strategy. As the price of traditional agro-exports declines, Latin American countries struggle to compete in international markets by offering specialized and higher value-added products. Domestically, deregulation and liberalization of the agro-food chain has redefined the dynamics of food consumption and production. This study will examine the emergence of such the changing agro-food chain in Bogota, Colombia's capital and largest city. As in other Latin American cities, a hallmark of this change has been the rising dominance of national and transnational supermarkets. However, the expansion of mega-retailers in Bogota has been stymied by the persistence of small neighborhood ("mom-n-pop") stores. How to explain this persistence? This research seeks to answer this question through a three-part argument: 1) that since the early 1990s Colombia's agro-food system has been restructured in the context of domestic and international neoliberal reforms; 2) that injection of foreign capital has allowed for unprecedented expansion in the number, size and concentration of supermarkets in Bogota; and 3) that mom-n-pop stores continue to thrive in the context of this modernizing trend, indicating either enduring social and economic inequality or specific attributes of particular food commodities. Empirical data will come from archival research and interviews. The rise of a "neoliberal food order" (including the surge of supermarkets) will be documented for the 1995-2005 period using national and city level data from both government and non-government sources. Additional information will be collected through interviews with executives of transnational retailers as well as owners and users of mom-n-pop stores to document the perceptions, ideas and attitudes towards this modernizing trend in food retailing.
By studying old and new forms of retailing within the broader context of national and international reforms, this project will provide a concrete example of the impact of neoliberal restructuring in a Latin American city. This study will draw from - and contribute to - theoretical fields such as political economy, retail geography and urban development studies, advancing the knowledge of central issues within the discipline of geography. Apart from its theoretical significance, this project speaks directly to debates of critical social importance. The study of how Bogota's food provisioning system has been restructured will provide crucial evidence and insights to inform public policy at the national and city government levels in relation to food security and retailing regulation, which have relevance beyond the Colombian case.
