Farmers turn to corn production to take advantage of the high prices resulting from a trade agreement. However, when trade with the Soviet Union eventually decreases, farmers are left with an excess of corn. As such, corn-processing giants like Archer-Daniels-Midland begin to produce high-fructose corn syrup from the excess corn to compete with the high price of sugar.

After global sugar prices drop dramatically in the 1980s, President Reagan, a friend of the Archer-Daniel-Midland leadership, will impose quotas on imported sugar, raising domestic sugar prices so that corn syrup becomes competitive. Multiple processed food and soda companies, including Coca-Cola, shift from using cane sugar to high-fructose corn syrup.