3 - The Financialization of Land and Agriculture

Summary

Chapter 3 focuses on the financialisation of land and agribusiness, a dimension that is often omitted. Throughout the world, private equity funds, pension funds, special purpose vehicles and hedge funds are increasingly acquiring control over land and agribusinesses. Without underplaying the relevance of finance in shaping other pieces of the food system such as seeds production, transformation and distribution, the present Chapter exclusively focuses on the link between financial actors, farmland and agribusinesses and offers a critical overview of the way in which this process is taking place along with their potential legal and socio-economic implications. In the main two sections, the Chapter utilises data and examples to trigger further debate and investigation, in particular, among scholars whose work deals with the competitiveness of food chains, the respect of the right to food, and the more theoretical debate between increasing production and redistribution. Finally, the conclusions focus on governance and present the case of a recent environmental campaign around Indonesian forests to underline the new forms of accountability and control that may lie behind the expansion of the financial interests over land and agribusinesses.