Madeleine Fairbairn, author of Fields of Gold: Financing the Global Landrush

Small and mid-sized farms in America have been dwindling for decades. Often these farms are bought up by larger conglomerates. One relatively recent example is Perdue’s purchase of Niman Ranch. You can read my post about the buyout here and my concerns about CAFOs (Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations) taking over companies with higher standards of production. 

In the episode, we learn that it’s not only Big Ag that’s getting into the small farm business. Financial institutions have been in the farmland game for years. My co-host James Connelly interviews Madeleine Fairbairn, an Associate Professor of Environmental Studies at the University of California, Santa Cruz about her latest book. Fields of Gold: Financing the Global Land Rush explores the financialization of farmland and how financial institutions began treating farmland as investment opportunities. You can download the ebook for free here.

James and Madeleine start their discussion in the 1970s with skyrocketing crop prices, quickly followed by overproduction and inflation, making farmland attractive to wealthy investors. This situation coupled with financial deregulation in the 80s and 90s caused changing mindsets in companies and consumers that now make finance a part of our everyday lives. 

Their conversation concludes with our current landscape where we see major investment companies like Harvard Management Company and TIAA owning huge swaths of farmland, often to the detriment of the local community. 

Tune in to learn more about:

- Financialization and how it affects all areas of our lives

- The Global Land Grab

- The Shareholder Value Revolution

- Congress's bipartisan measure to prevent institutions from taking over farmland and how those measures went away in the 1980s

- California’s water shortage problem

- How Harvard Management Company bought a vineyard

- The rise of ESGs (Environmental, Social, and Governance) or socially responsible investing

- Madeleine’s skepticism of ESGs

Resources:

Fields of Gold by Madeleine Fairbairn (free ebook)

The Looting Machine: Warlords, Oligarchs, Corporations, Smugglers, and the Theft of Africa’s Wealth by Tom Burgis

Greta Krippner 

The Great Grain Robbery

The Last Supper for Malthus: Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3

Perilous Bounty: The Looming Collapse of American Farming and How We Can Prevent It by Tom Philpott

Connect with Madeleine:

Website: Madeleine Fairbairn and UC AFTeR Project

LinkedIn: Madeleine Fairbairn

Email: [e-mail]

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Episode Credits:

Thank you to all who’ve made this show possible. Our hosts are Diana Rodgers and James Connelly. Our producer is Meg Chatham, and our editor is Emily Soape. And of course, we are grateful for our sponsors, Patreon supporters, and listeners.

A big thanks to Nakano Knives for their support of my work and the podcast. I’ve been using their knives for a couple of years now and I love them. They are beautiful, easy to hold, and a fantastic value. And just in time for the holidays, you can use my offer code DIANA for 10% off plus get a $25 voucher toward your next purchase. Who doesn’t love a new knife, right?