Fields of Gold: Financing the Global Land Rush

by Madeleine Fairbairn

Overview

Fields of Gold critically examines the history, ideas, and political struggles surrounding the financialization of farmland. In particular, Madeleine Fairbairn focuses on developments in two of the most popular investment locations, the US and Brazil, looking at the implications of financiers' acquisition of land and control over resources for rural livelihoods and economic justice.

At the heart of Fields of Gold is a tension between efforts to transform farmland into a new financial asset class, and land's physical and social properties, which frequently obstruct that transformation. But what makes the book unique among the growing body of work on the global land grab is Fairbairn's interest in those acquiring land, rather than those affected by land acquisitions. Fairbairn's work sheds ethnographic light on the actors and relationships—from Iowa to Manhattan to São Paulo—that have helped to turn land into an attractive financial asset class.

Thanks to generous funding from UC Santa Cruz, the ebook editions of this book are available as Open Access volumes from Cornell Open (cornellpress.cornell.edu/cornell-open) and other repositories.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781501750083
Publisher:	Cornell University Press
Publication date:	07/15/2020
Series:	Cornell Series on Land: New Perspectives on Territory, Development, and Environment
Pages:	234
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.69(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Madeleine Fairbairn is Assistant Professor in Environmental Studies at the University of California, Santa Cruz.

Table of Contents

Introduction
1. Farmland Investment Comes of Age
2. Farmland Values
3. Material Difficulties
4. Foreign Politics
Conclusion

What People are Saying About This

Harriet Friedmann

Fields of Gold is a superb, timely book on a topic that could not be more important. Fairbairn makes accessible to general and specialist readers alike the intricacies of finance and the implications of making farmland just another financial investment.

University of Toronto HarrietFriedmann

"Fields of Gold is a superb, timely book on a topic that could not be more important. Fairbairn makes accessible to general and specialist readers alike the intricacies of finance and the implications of making farmland just another financial investment."

Jennifer Clapp

In a clear and engaging style, Fairbairn cuts to the key issues at stake in the growing investment in farmland by financial actors on a global scale.

University of Toronto Harriet Friedmann

Fields of Gold is a superb, timely book on a topic that could not be more important. Fairbairn makes accessible to general and specialist readers alike the intricacies of finance and the implications of making farmland just another financial investment.

Editorial Reviews

Madeleine Fairbairn's Fields of Gold offers careful and important insight into the history, motivations, and impacts of financial capital's recent investments in farmland around the world. Fields of Gold makes important and engaging contributions to debates inside and outside the field of geography.

AAG Review

In Fields of Gold, Madeleine Fairbairn presents a thoughtful, nuanced, and empirically rich account of the transformation of farmland into an increasingly sought-after investment opportunity. This is a very fine book and should be required reading for anyone who wants to better understand the farmland investment phenomenon.

The Journal of Peasant Studies

Fields of Gold makes important and engaging contributions to debates inside and outside the field of geography.

From the Publisher

Fairbairn has written a superb and field-defining monograph. Fields of Gold is now the gold standard for scholarship on the financial drivers of transnational farmland investment. To cap off the achievement, Fairbairn writes in a clear and down-to-earth style that demystifies finance jargon and clearly conveys the significance of difficult theory for the lay reader.

Antipode

As federal land policy specialists, we found this book incredibly insightful. The author concisely and clearly explains complicated financial concepts, deftly connecting the machinations of financial actors with their concrete, alarming consequences on the land and within our food system. She connects all this to policy, making the point that public policy is inextricably tied to the financialization of farmland and must be part of addressing this issue moving forward.

Culture & Society Food

Fields of Gold is a richly textured portrait of the globalization of land commodification and those agents intimately involved in its speculation.

New Global Studies

As federal land policy specialists, we found this book incredibly insightful. The author concisely and clearly explains complicated financial concepts, deftly connecting the machinations of financial actors with their concrete, alarming consequences on the land and within our food system.

An International Journal of Multidisciplinary Research