Grounding the financialization of farmland: perspectives on financial actors as new land owners in rural Australia

Sparked by the conjunction of food, fuel, and financial crises, there has been an increasing awareness in recent years of the scarce and finite character of natural resources. Productive resources such as agricultural land have been touted by financial actors—such as merchant banks, pension funds, and investment companies—as providing the basis for a range of new “alternative” financial asset classes and products. While the drivers, motives, and rationales behind the increasing interest of turning farmland into a financial asset class have been traced by a number of scholars, the interpretations of, and interactions with, financial actors at the community level have received less attention. Based on qualitative research in rural Australia, this paper reveals the grounds on which finance-backed investments have been accepted and accommodated by communities in rural Australia and delineates the reasons that have led to feelings of unease or refusal. The paper thereby demonstrates that the financialization of farmland is neither abstract nor one-sided but rather a multidimensional process that not only includes financial actors but also the impacted rural populations in various ways. Positioning the activities of financial actors in Australia within the emerging research on the financialization of farmland, the paper endorses context-sensitive analyses to better interpret these recent transformations of the agri-food system.     

The complex dynamics of agriculture as a financial asset: introduction to symposium

The contemporary process of financialization has been a major driver of the remarkable changes witnessed in global food and agricultural markets over the past decade, contributing to the rise and subsequent volatility of food and agricultural commodity prices since 2006. In the wake of these developments it has become clear that the turmoil has intensified the relationship between agriculture and finance in ways that have profound and enduring implications for the sector, and the people whose lives and livelihoods depend upon it. This symposium brings together four original research articles that contemplate the contemporary relationship between the agrifood and financial sectors. They examine a variety of overlapping themes, including the creation of financial assets from farmland and agricultural commodities, the activities of different types of investors in these assets in specific geographic contexts, and the challenges of governing this activity at the global scale. These articles show that the period of market volatility that began a decade ago re-invigorated investor interest in financial products linked to agriculture and farming, and inspired the packaging of new forms of financial assets in ways that have affected politics and practice on the ground, and are likely to leave a lasting legacy.     

我国农地“三权分离”产权制度的剖析与建议

发展现代农业离不开土地规模经营,土地规模经营需要农地流转,农地流转呼唤"三权分离"。梳理了新中国成立以来的历次农地产权改革,对当前的农地"三权分离"进行了产权界定,强调"三权分离"的重要性;继而分析认为农地"三权分离"存在农地"非农化"与"非粮化"、工商资本挤压农民利益、信贷配给等风险,需要党和各级政府警惕,并提出相应的政策建议。     

Agricultural real estate loans and secondary markets

As a result of financial difficulties confronting American agriculture, public debate is focusing on longterm options for restoring economic stability and growth to the agricultural economy. Many believe that just as homeowners in small communities throughout the nation have been served by the development of a secondary market for residential mortgages sponsored by the federal government, farmers throughout the country would similarly benefit from the development of a secondary market for farm real estate mortgages. This paper discusses issues relating to the development of a secondary market for agricultural real estate loans. The concept of a secondary market for agriculture is of considerable interest to Congress, as evidenced by recent enactment of the Agricultural Credit Act of 1987 which established the Federal Agricultural Mortgage Corporation (“Farmer Mac”) to create a secondary market for farm real estate loans. The first section discusses the general nature of secondary markets and their purposes, with particular attention given to the secondary market for home mortgages because it served as a model for a secondary market for farm loans. Section two discusses basic differences between agriculture and housing, and section three provides a brief discussion of federal credit subsidies designed to help meet social and economic goals by influencing the allocation of credit to particular sectors of the economy such as housing and agriculture. Potential benefits and costs associated with the development of a secondary market for agriculture are discussed in section four.     

The politics of agricultural abundance

Agriculture should be viewed not as an industry but rather as a set of sectors organized around region, commodity, and institution. As such, agriculture adjusts well to a situation of “abundance” (excess supplies of major commodities). Although these sector interests are often referred to as “special interests,” they have effectively used public policy to generate agricultural development, and will continue to have a developmental impulse. Sector interests will, therefore, resist most proposals based on macrosystem perspectives which would reduce government support for agricultural development. These sectors will continue to be quite influential in deciding agricultural policy, though they will find it possible to adjust not only to “abundance” in the market place, but also to such political constraints as may be imposed in pursuit of such goals as consumer health, soil conservation, and environmental preservation.     

Traditional African American foods and African Americans

Traditional African American foods, also referred to as “soul food,” are often given a blanket label of “poor food choices.” The cultural value of these ethnic foods may be disregarded without sufficient study of their nutrient content. This study showed that of the various foods perceived as traditionally African American by the local sampled population, greens were the most often identified as such by 78% and the most frequently consumed (22%) by the subjects. 37% perceived chitterlings as a traditional food, yet only 30% consumed them, and only on an occasional basis. Okra, yams, and black-eyed peas had relatively high consumptions but were not often perceived as traditional African American foods. The latter may suggests a lack of historical food facts, relating to indigenous African foods or may indicate the mainstreaming of these foods. Cowpeas or black-eyed peas, okra, sesame seeds, and watermelon seeds were originally brought to North America from Africa. The literature contains scant information on this particular topic, which leaves unanswered: (1) the current consumption of traditional foods by African Americans, (2) certain availability of these foods; and (3) the positive contributions to the diet that these foods may contribute. The author recognizes that “African American” is the most appropriate and preferred term used widely today, to refer to African descendants in North America, however “Black” and “Black American” will be used interchangeably, to reflect consistency of literature cited herein. First, this article will define traditional African American foods and relate their historical significance. Secondly, it will present data on current food consumption from a sample population of African Americans surveyed in San Diego. Lastly, this article will explore possible applications of the research itself.     

Toward sustainable intensification of agriculture in sub-Saharan Africa

Across the African continent efforts to intensify agriculture have been limited to specific commodities, locations or particular production schemes. The causes for the widespread failure to overcome low land and labor productivity while maintaining ecosystem services have often be analyzed but remain poorly understood. A social-ecological system approach may help to better understand the complex nature of ecological disadvantages, postcolonial structures, limited connect between producers and consumer markets, low off-farm livelihood opportunities, partial underpopulation and lacking experience with the concept of sustainable production as a major impediment for sustainable intensification of the agricultural sector. Nevertheless, recent success stories in agro-pastoral systems as well as urban vegetable and animal production and associated value chains in West Africa, and in intensive mixed-cropping systems of the Great Lakes Region show the potential of stakeholder-driven agricultural intensification. Proper interpretation of these cases may provide lessons for a more widespread eco-intensification of smallholder agriculture in sub-Saharan Africa.     

Alternative modes of governance: organic as civic engagement

A major strategy in the creation of sustainable economies is the establishment of alternative market institutions, such as fair trade and local market systems. However, the dynamics of these alternative markets are poorly understood. What are the rules of behavior by which these markets function? How do these markets maintain their separate identity as “alternative”: apart from the conventional (“free”) market system? Building on Lyson’s notion of civic agriculture, we argue that alternative markets maintain themselves through civic engagement. However, we argue that the civically-engaged practices of alternative markets are poorly understood. We seek, therefore, to begin a conversation about the everyday forms of civic engagement in alternative practice and to do this we introduce a few useful conceptual tools. Building upon ideas in science studies about the collaboration of scientists (Hess, Alternative pathways in science and industry, 2007) we argue that civic markets have their own “market fields” and “modes of governance” (Bulkeley et al., Environment and Planning A 39:2733–2753, 2007), their own fields of social interaction in which rules of behavior become stabilized and determine how the market works. The creation of a social field also requires the demarcation of boundaries, referred to in the science studies literature as “boundary work” (Gieryn, Cultural boundaries of science: Credibility on the line, 1999). We apply the idea of boundary work to understand how alternative market actors maintain boundaries between alternative and conventional markets. Finally, studies of collaboration in science have often centered on the object created through these interactions, an object that is partially material and partially a product of knowledge, what (Rheinberger, Toward a history of epistemic things: Synthesizing proteins in the test tube, 1997) calls an “epistemic object.” We use this idea to understand that the creation of alternative objects of exchange, such as organic food, are epistemic objects in that they combine both particular materialities and particular ways of knowing. Using these concepts, we will carry out a close analysis of the mode of governance in the national organic market, looking specifically a recent governance crisis in organic agriculture known as the Harvey lawsuit.     

金融排斥、空间溢出与传统农区县域金融趋同研究 ——基于河南省51个农业县数据的实证分析

利用ArcGIS,GeoDA,Matlab工具,结合非参数Kernel密度估计方法,分析河南省传统农业地区51个县域空间单元金融地理排斥现象和空间地理溢出效应,并对金融空间发展格局进行β趋同检验。结果表明,金融的“第二财政”功能是传统农业地区金融地理排斥的主要推手;城乡经济发展严重不平衡更多的是在于农业地区金融市场彼此分割,呈“条块”分布格局;传统农业地区的县域金融发展“空间溢出”效应有助于金融格局的演变,而推动县域金融发展的途径在于利用金融支持推动中小企业的发展。     

土地私有化并非解决"三农"问题的灵丹妙药

一些学者和官员提出,当前解决中国三农问题的最终出路在于施行土地私有化.针对这一观点,本文从农业规模经营在中国的可行性、市场制度要素的缺失、土地对中国农民的基本社会保障功能三个方面论证了土地私有化在中国并非一个切实可行的方案.进而借鉴其他发展中国家土地私有化政策的失败之处,指出小农经济是中国农业立足现实的唯一选择.只有在小农地权的基础之上,一方面通过市场进行各种劳动要素的组合,另一方面借助于行政力量的适度进退,才能真正实现中国农业的腾飞.     

Planners or performers? Reflections on indigenous dryland farming in northern Burkina Faso

Indigenous agricultural practices in semiarid West Africa must be seen as dynamic operations that serve different ends. These ends are not only agricultural, but symbolic. By highlighting how farmers in the Central Plateau region of Burkina Faso organize their farming strategies, the “agriculture as performance” arguments developed by Richards (1987, 1993) can be both challenged and extended from the humid forest zone of West Africa. Farmers, it can be argued, are also keen “planners;” in order to meet their goals they invest considerable effort in overcoming ecological constraints, and also spend time forging links with various institutions working for agricultural development. Technologies and ideas from multiple sources—including those from some innovative development institutions — are incorporated in agricultural planning and practices in different ways, by different farmers, and for different reasons. The prospect of locally initiated and managed agricultural change emerging on the Central Plateau will be dependent upon this dialogue between farmer innovation, local organizations, and development projects. Agricultural systems are, in many cases, consciously “constructed” through sustained investment in the land and in natural resource management. Dryland management efforts need to recognize the strategic and planned nature of these activities, if they are to work with farmers who are actively building and improving their own livelihood systems.     

Running out of farmland? Investment discourses,unstable land values and the sluggishness of asset making

This article critically analyzes the assumption that land is becoming increasingly scarce and that, therefore, farmland values are bound to rise across the globe. It investigates the process of land value creation, as well as its flipside: value erosion and stagnation, looking at the various mechanisms involved in each. As such, it is a study of how the financialization of agriculture affects the process of land commoditization. I show that, for farmland to be turned into an asset, a whole range of conditions have to be fulfilled, presenting a typology of asset making in the context of farmland. Asset making, like commoditization, is a process of assemblage, and it is less straightforward and less stable than generally assumed. Further, I argue that ‘asset making’ is not a one-way process. The article is based on an analysis of global data on land values and the case of farmland investment in post-Soviet farmland (Russia and Ukraine).     

财政支农与粮食安全——基于区域差异的实证分析

本文对中国2007—2019年财政支农的支出空间分布与效率差异进行分析,发现财政支农的"量"与"效率"有明显的区域异质性。运用系统GMM模型分析财政支农对粮食安全的影响得出以下结论:第一,财政支农规模效率提高粮食安全度的能力比财政支农纯技术效率高;在政策短视性影响下,财政支农规模提高粮食安全度的作用存在滞后效应。第二,财政支农规模高不一定能有效保障粮食安全,提高财政支农规模只是保障粮食安全的必要非充分条件。第三,粮食主销区应加大财政支农规模,粮食产销平衡区则需在保证财政支农资金投入的前提下,加快农业现代化建设,提高财政支农效率。因此,制定财政支农政策应因地制宜,实现精准施策;政府应转变财政支农资金的管理方式并提升资金管理效率;各地区应优化产业结构,实现以技术创新替代劳动要素投入。     

Characteristics and conflicts in Norwegian agriculture

This article raises the issue of the extent to which a single nation can develop a “national agricultural policy,” pursuing internal goals in agrarian development, goals that vary significantly from those of other industrialized countries. What are the conflicts arising from such a policy and how do these conflicts interfere with the general agricultural crisis of these countries? The Norwegian case is explored as an example of a blend of social-democratic and center-populist agricultural policies. The decision in 1975 by the Norwegian Parliament to establish the income level of farmers at the same level as workers is seen as an experiment. As agricultural policy, this new departure represented a deviation from the earlier policies of rationalization. The Social Democrats developed their new position as a result of internal and external pressure. A series of reforms financed by the new state incomes from oil production were undertaken, of which income equalization and a farm relief service were the most important. Most Norwegian farmers speak of the reform years as “the good years of escalation.” Equity was reached in 1982, but nevertheless several problems emerged: 1) the escalation of subsidized incomes led to overproduction and decreasing incomes from the market (after 1982), 2) the large budgetary transfers to agriculture caused a legitimation crisis, fueling the constituency of the right-wing Progress Party, 3) the large subsidies to agriculture contributed to the fiscal crisis of the state, 4) the problems mentioned above, contributed to the general crisis of the Norwegian Social Democracy which finds itself with dwindling support. The likely outcome of the present Norwegian farm crisis is the implementation of an agricultural policy that will protect the most vulnerable sector and open the more competitive sector to market forces.     

我国农地市场化流转的问题与对策

农地市场流转对现代农业发展具有明显绩效。当前的农地市场流转存在着农户作为农地市场流转的主体地位比较脆弱、非市场力量支配农地价格形成及农地交易管理滞后等问题。针对这些问题，需要从农户主体地位强化、农地价格机制形成及农地交易管理创新角度，推进农地市场化流转。     

南非农地流转及效益促进研究

简述了南非土地制度的演变历程,概括了其土地改革的基本方针,总结了其农地流转中存在的问题主要体现在白人农场主的抵制、政府资助不足、前黑人部落对土地的实际控制。分析了南非农地流转的经济效益、社会效益和生态效益,在此基础上探讨了南非农地流转效益促进对我国的启示。     

面向国际市场发展 高新技术 改造河北农业

文章针对加入世贸组织（ WTO）、农业市场国际化对传统农业的影响，结合河北省农业发展的实际，分析了发展高新技术，改造河北农业面临的主要问题，提出了“四结合、四突破”的发展对策与措施。     

Civic agriculture and community engagement

Several scholars have claimed that small-scale agriculture in which farmers sell goods to the local market has the potential to strengthen social ties and a sense of community, a phenomenon referred to as “civic agriculture.” Proponents see promise in the increase in the number of community supported agriculture (CSA) programs, farmers markets, and other locally orientated distribution systems as well as the growing interest among consumers for buying locally produced goods. Yet others have suggested that these novel or reborn distribution mechanisms are still primarily means of instrumental economic exchange and that optimistic characterizations of a renewed sense of community emerging from these practices are unfounded. This study provides an empirical assessment of the extent to which these community-based agriculture markets are associated with connection to community, volunteerism, and civic and political activities. In order to assess the relationship between civic agriculture and community engagement, we surveyed over 1,300 people in the Mid-Hudson region of New York State. The study design includes “civic agriculture participants” as the unit of analysis, defined as CSA farm members, shoppers at independent health food stores, and farmers market patrons. For comparison, a telephone survey of randomly selected residents of the region’s general population was also conducted. Unlike studies that focus solely on the perceptions of certain civic agriculture participants (e.g., CSA members), by comparing the perceptions and behaviors of those engaged in a range of civic agriculture practices, we are able to identify the effects of different forms of participation. The results demonstrate higher levels of voluntarism and engagement in local politics among civic agriculture participants relative to the general population. In addition, we found variation among those engaged in different forms of civic agriculture, with those immersed in more socially embedded forms of exchange demonstrating greater community and political involvement. These findings lend empirical support to the civic agriculture thesis.     

农村空心化、代际断裂与农地制度创新——基于S县G镇农地制度创新实践的考察

农村空心化伴随着青壮年劳动力大量外流,农业经营的代际传承成为当前乡村产业兴旺面临的重要问题。农地三权分置实现了承包权和经营权的分离,通过规模经营和新型农业经营主体培育的方式化解代际断裂困境。但在具体实践中仍面临土地碎片化、流转成本高昂等困境,进而掣肘农地三权分置改革作用发挥,亟须进行农地制度创新。基于S县G镇实地调研发现“意见筛选机制”“用途划片机制”和“委托代理机制”有机组合极大盘活了农地资源,形成集中连片的适度规模经营,为农村产业兴旺奠定了基础。提出尊重主体差异性、建设集中型农地流转市场以及组建农地流转中介机构等实践路径。     

农用地产权制度改革探析

分析我国现行农用地所有权和使用权现状,认为我国目前的农用地制度存在所有权主体不明、土地产权缺乏保护、没有合理的土地产权流转机制等方面的缺陷,已经不适应社会主义市场经济发展的客观要求,不能适应发展现代化农业和农村非农化对土地产权制度所提出的要求。有针对性地提出改革我国农地产权制度、明确界定农地产权主体、大力推进农地使用权合理流转的建议。