This chapter provides a retrospective overview of the world foodeconomy over four decades (1961-2003), with a world divided into six regions [those of the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA)], and using material generated by Agribiom. We will outline here how Agribiom can be used to analyse or revisit the past, while subsequent chapters will show how it can be used to debate and simulate new possible states of the world, along with all the assumptions and interpretations associated with these simulations