The history of world agriculture can be interpreted as the continual transformation of natural ecosystems and managed agroecosystems. To begin with, humans were integrated into the natural environment as hunters and food gatherers; but over time that environment has been increasingly managed, most recently through using agricultural technologies developed by manufacturing industry in developed market economies. These technologies are now being adopted throughout the world economy and an increasingly globalized food supply system has emerged to integrate input manufacturers, farm producers and food processors (Figure 11.1). Intervention by the state has characterized these developments, with distorting effects on the allocation of resources both in agriculture and world food trade. But in recent years international agreement has been reached on reducing state support for agriculture through the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) and by successive revisions of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) of the European Union (EU). Even so, the reduction in the international level of state support for agriculture has not addressed the problem of the damaging environmental consequences of contemporary world agriculture.