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The Global Farms Race: Land Grabs, Agricultural Investment, and the Scramble for Food Security (Paperback)

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Description


We have entered a new phase of the global food crisis. Wealthy countries that import much of their food, along with private investors, are racing to buy or lease huge swaths of farmland abroad. The Global Farms Race is the first book to examine this burgeoning trend in all its complexity, considering the implications for investors, host countries, and the world as a whole.

 

The debate over large-scale land acquisition is typically polarized, with critics lambasting it as a form of “neocolonialism,” and proponents lauding it as a cure-all for global agriculture. The Global Farms Race instead offers diverse perspectives, featuring contributions from agricultural investment consultants, farmers’ organizations, international NGOs, and academics. This critical resource addresses historical context, environmental impacts, and social effects, and covers all the major geographic areas of investment.

About the Author


Michael Kugelman is Senior Program Associate for South and Southeast Asia at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. Susan L. Levenstein is Program Specialist with the U.S. Department of State's Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs.

Praise for The Global Farms Race: Land Grabs, Agricultural Investment, and the Scramble for Food Security…


"The Global Farms Race is an exceptional book, easily the best on land grabs of any that I have seen."
-Lester Brown

"The Global Farms Race marks an important turning point in the current discussions of global agricultural land investments and acquisitions. The volume presents a range of balanced perspectives on the issue, and the authors take a thoughtful approach to the historical context in which these deals are taking place, the measurable social and environmental impacts of land acquisitions, and the roles of investors and governments in improving the future outcomes of global agricultural land investments."
-Rosamond Naylor
-Paul Roberts

"Secure access to land is key to the food security of millions of small family farms and their efforts to increase their productivity. In recent years, that access has been threatened by large-scale acquisitions of developing country farmland often by foreign investors that have rightly raised international concern. However, hard information is still limited. The Global Farms Race provides an international survey of this phenomenon and a valuable exploration of the controversies surrounding it."
-Jose Graziano da Silva

Product Details ISBN-10: 1610911873
ISBN-13: 9781610911870
Published: Island Press, 10/01/2012
Pages: 248
Language: English