This study probes assumptions which underpin current thinking about the transformation of Pakistan’s agri-food systems by identifying and examining key turning points from the 1840s onwards in sub-regions of the Indus irrigated plains. It highlights historical antecedents of contemporary agri-food systems including: the political-strategic goals of colonial reformers, origins of inter-regional disparities, the elevation and marginalisation of various social groups and agrarian classes, ambivalence towards markets and market-players, and the entrenched political economy of land and water resources.