Land Grabbing

In the last few years, investment groups, sovereign wealth funds from cash-rich countries, and agrobusiness corporations have started a veritable land rush, negotiating the lease or purchase of millions of acres of farmland in Africa and South America. After the 2007-08 food price crisis, Arab and Asian nations that have not enough acreage to grant their citizens food security, are interested in using foreign land for agriculture; and given the recent boom in the “green energy” market, a number of multinational groups are securing land in order to boost their production of bio-fuel crops. This phenomenon, known as land grabbing, is seen by many as a new form of colonialism. Resources are being exploited without any real development, and questionable liaisons are being created between local governments and foreign investors.

For the first time, a journalist investigates what has only been the object of worried reports by NGOs and concerned discussion among insiders so far. Travelling from Ethiopia to the Amazon rainforest, from Dubai to the Chicago Stock Exchange, Stefano Liberti produces an eye-witness account of how the increasing “financialization” of agriculture and the ever-stronger link between international politics and the global market are dramatically reshaping our world.

Full English version available. Suitable candidate for translation funds