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The Landgrabbers
The Land Grabbers is a first-of-its-kind exposé that reveals the unprecedented land grab taking place around the world. Fearing future food shortages and the over-financialization of the stock market, the world's richest countries, corporations, hedge funds, and individuals have spent the last few years buying and leasing vast swaths of foreign soil—including parcels as large as the state of Massachusetts. From the plains of Africa to the jungles and prairies of South America, author Fred Pearce has traveled the globe to investigate the full scale and effects of the land grab, resulting in a larger-than-life cast of characters that includes Wall Street speculators, Gulf oil sheiks, Chinese entrepreneurs, big-name financiers like George Soros, and industry titans like Richard Branson. Along the way, Pearce introduces us to the people who actually live on, and live off of, the supposedly vacant land that is being grabbed, from Cambodian peasants, victimized first by the Khmer Rouge and now by crony capitalism, to African pastoralists confined to ever-smaller tracts. Corporate and governmental promises about the benefits of development, Pearce shows us, are often illusory, masking environmental and social destruction and the massive transfer of wealth out of host countries. This is investigative journalism at its best, taking the reader beyond the abstract claims in corporate reports to shed light on the human realities that underlie the land grab.
336 pages, Hardcover
First published May 24, 2012
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465 people want to read
About the author
Fred Pearce
65 books94 followersFred Pearce is an English author and journalist based in London. He has been described as one of Britain's finest science writers and has reported on environment, popular science and development issues from 64 countries over the past 20 years. He specialises in global environmental issues, including water and climate change, and frequently takes heretic and counter-intuitive views - "a sceptic in the best sense", he says.
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Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews
September 10, 2015
The story is the same the world over. Indigenous and native people living on the land for decades but with no legal title are forced to vacate, whether physically or through monetary and other incentives, by rich individuals and corporations, with the aid of national governments, in the name of development. The modus operandi seems so standard that after reading about it happening in various countries (mostly African) it ceases to provoke much of a response in me. In this sense, the book lacks flavor. The place and individuals involved keep changing but the story and outcome is depressingly similar. So and So corporation or investment fund buys XXX acres of 'vacant' land in country X to grow soy, corn, sugarcane, rice etc. Poor 'landless' peasants or nomads are removed, usually by force, some of them are employed but the vast majority's lives are destroyed or at least made worse.
Only in the last couple of chapters do we get some analysis of the situation, whether the continued industrialization of agriculture in massive capital intensive operations is the answer to growing appetites, or if a better managed small holder format is more suitable. The jury is very much out. Pearce is right about one thing though. The 'financialization' of agricultural products is responsible for the volatility in food prices that has resulted in political instability the world over as speculators are increasingly able to swing prices even while real supply and demand remain unchanging. This is very much a negative development and should be curbed or regulated. Money and liquidity flows quickly into and out of countries, leaving a trail of destruction in lives and the environment in their wake.
In sum, I found this book too shallow, merely descriptive. I expected some discussion on the position of different countries with respect to their food security situation that may have prompted them to 'land grab' overseas, but it was only done for one middle eastern country, disappointingly.
Only in the last couple of chapters do we get some analysis of the situation, whether the continued industrialization of agriculture in massive capital intensive operations is the answer to growing appetites, or if a better managed small holder format is more suitable. The jury is very much out. Pearce is right about one thing though. The 'financialization' of agricultural products is responsible for the volatility in food prices that has resulted in political instability the world over as speculators are increasingly able to swing prices even while real supply and demand remain unchanging. This is very much a negative development and should be curbed or regulated. Money and liquidity flows quickly into and out of countries, leaving a trail of destruction in lives and the environment in their wake.
In sum, I found this book too shallow, merely descriptive. I expected some discussion on the position of different countries with respect to their food security situation that may have prompted them to 'land grab' overseas, but it was only done for one middle eastern country, disappointingly.
October 22, 2013
As the world’s population rises, land and water availability dwindles, eco-systems succumb and climate change havoc sets in, the need for secure future food supplies is driving a worldwide agrarian power struggle.
The sheer scale of what’s taking place is matched only by the greed and venality of the players involved - countries, governments, agribusinesses, drug cartels, commodity traders, bankers and chancers all competing for fat profits from a carve-up of continents.
Journalist Fred Pearce spent a year visiting places as far apart as Patagonia and Zimbabwe, Ukraine and Australia to report from the emerging frontlines of the politics of food.
What he found were neo-colonialists being aided and abetted by a parade of despots and dictators, corrupt politicians and cut-throat businessmen. And, as ever, the big losers are the pastoralists, the subsistence farmers and the poorest, marginalized peoples.
So-called “empty lands” are the prime target for much of their attention; bribes are paid, locals are forcibly evicted, promised jobs, schools, hospitals and improvements fail to materialize and the environment takes a beating from which it may never recover.
It was soaring food prices that fueled the revolution in Egypt which led to the overthrow of the Mubarak regime. That may explain why Middle Eastern petrodollars are pouring into farming in Africa: Food insecurity equals political unrest.
But there are other factors too: Rising demand from China and the Far East for meat, an increasing requirement for biofuels from the US and Europe, a need for more rubber plantations as car use climbs in emerging economies and a growing appetite from agribusinesses for soy and palm oil products.
Pearce’s big picture reporting gives the Who, What, Where and Why of what’s taking place in a way that piecemeal mainstream news fails to capture. And, bleak as the landscape is, he doesn’t cloud his writing with hyperbole or environmental evangelism.
Best of all, he gives voice to advocates for alternative agriculture options that don’t destroy the environment, don’t displace people from tribal lands and don’t end in a Malthusian nightmare of famine and death. This is an important book for anyone who cares about the environment, social justice and human rights.
The sheer scale of what’s taking place is matched only by the greed and venality of the players involved - countries, governments, agribusinesses, drug cartels, commodity traders, bankers and chancers all competing for fat profits from a carve-up of continents.
Journalist Fred Pearce spent a year visiting places as far apart as Patagonia and Zimbabwe, Ukraine and Australia to report from the emerging frontlines of the politics of food.
What he found were neo-colonialists being aided and abetted by a parade of despots and dictators, corrupt politicians and cut-throat businessmen. And, as ever, the big losers are the pastoralists, the subsistence farmers and the poorest, marginalized peoples.
So-called “empty lands” are the prime target for much of their attention; bribes are paid, locals are forcibly evicted, promised jobs, schools, hospitals and improvements fail to materialize and the environment takes a beating from which it may never recover.
It was soaring food prices that fueled the revolution in Egypt which led to the overthrow of the Mubarak regime. That may explain why Middle Eastern petrodollars are pouring into farming in Africa: Food insecurity equals political unrest.
But there are other factors too: Rising demand from China and the Far East for meat, an increasing requirement for biofuels from the US and Europe, a need for more rubber plantations as car use climbs in emerging economies and a growing appetite from agribusinesses for soy and palm oil products.
Pearce’s big picture reporting gives the Who, What, Where and Why of what’s taking place in a way that piecemeal mainstream news fails to capture. And, bleak as the landscape is, he doesn’t cloud his writing with hyperbole or environmental evangelism.
Best of all, he gives voice to advocates for alternative agriculture options that don’t destroy the environment, don’t displace people from tribal lands and don’t end in a Malthusian nightmare of famine and death. This is an important book for anyone who cares about the environment, social justice and human rights.
September 2, 2021
หนังสือสารคดีเล่มนี้พาเราไปสำรวจการแย่งยึดที่ดินในทุกมุมโลก การแย่งยึดที่ดินแถบทะเลทรายในทวีปแอฟริกาเกี่ยวพันอย่างแน่นเหนียวกับตลาดหลักทรัพย์ของประเทศโลกที่หนึ่งและมหานครการเงินอย่าง ลอนดอน ผู้เขียนพาเราไปทำความรู้จักกับ “นักแย่งยึดที่ดิน” ผู้เข้าไปจับจองที่ดินนอกประเทศตน และมุมมองของชาวบ้านในประเทศผู้ถูกแย่งยึดที่ดินต่อคนเหล่านี้ หลายแห่งที่เหล่านักแย่งยึดที่ดินกล่าวอ้างว่าเป็น “ผืนดินว่างเปล่า” เรากลับพบว่าที่ดินเหล่านั้นมีทั้งเจ้าของและการทำการเกษตรดั้งเดิมมานานนับพันปี ผืนดินหลายแห่งปราศจากผู้ครอบครองแต่มีคุณค่าในฐานะผืนดินอุดมสมบูรณ์แหล่งสุดท้ายสำหรับช่วงการอพยพครั้งใหญ่ของสัตว์ป่าหายากที่เกิดขึ้นทุกปี เช่น ในซูดานใต้และเอธิโอเปีย บางแห่งเป็นพื้นที่ชุ่มน้ำซึ่งที่อยู่อาศัยของปลาหายากหลากชนิดที่สูญหายไปจากแหล่งน้ำขนาดใหญ่เช่นในเคนยา ควรแล้วหรือที่มนุษย์ผู้คลั่งไคล้การพัฒนาเรียกพื้นที่เหล่านี้ว่า “พื้นที่ว่างเปล่า”
เป้าหมายเพียงอย่างเดียวของนักแย่งยึดที่ดินคือ การสร้างความมั่งคงทางด้านอาหาร (และรวมถึงสร้างความมั่งคั่งให้กระเป๋าเงินของตน) แต่ผลลัพธ์กลับส่งผลในทางตรงกันข้ามและผลักดันให้มนุษย์ห่างไกลจากความมั่นคงไปทุกที และไม่เคยมีผลต่อประชาชนที่เป็นผู้อาศัยดั้งเดิมในแถบนั้น การเข้าไปครอบครองในลักษณะการเช่าระยะยาว ส่งผลให้เกิดการไล่ที่ขนานใหญ่โดยรัฐบาลเผด็จการและรัฐบาลประชาธิปไตยที่เป็นทุนนิยม ผู้อาศัยดั้งเดิมถูกไล่ออกจากผืนดินบรรพบุรุษ ไปผจญความอดอยากและถูกผลักให้ต้องไปขายแรงงานราคาถูกในเมืองใหญ่ หลายครอบครัวที่ยืนยันจะอยู่ถูกคุกคามทั้งทางตรงทางอ้อมอย่างอุกอาจจากทั้งกลุ่มนักแย่งยึดที่ดินและจากรัฐบาลของตนเอง
อย่างไรก็ตามหนังสือยังฉายให้เห็นภาพของอนาคตที่เกษตรกรรายย่อยจะกลับมาเป็นผู้นำในการผลิตอาหารแก่คนทั้งโลก ด้วยความร่วมมืออย่างแข็งขันระหว่างโลกเก่าและโลกใหม่ เทคโนโลยีการเข้าถึงข่าวสารช่วยให้เกษตรกรรายย่อยที่ดูเหมือนจะถูกทำให้สูญหายกลับมาประสบความสำเร็จอีกครั้ง แต่อนาคตอันสดใสนี้ยังต้องถูกจับตาดูต่อไป
เป้าหมายเพียงอย่างเดียวของนักแย่งยึดที่ดินคือ การสร้างความมั่งคงทางด้านอาหาร (และรวมถึงสร้างความมั่งคั่งให้กระเป๋าเงินของตน) แต่ผลลัพธ์กลับส่งผลในทางตรงกันข้ามและผลักดันให้มนุษย์ห่างไกลจากความมั่นคงไปทุกที และไม่เคยมีผลต่อประชาชนที่เป็นผู้อาศัยดั้งเดิมในแถบนั้น การเข้าไปครอบครองในลักษณะการเช่าระยะยาว ส่งผลให้เกิดการไล่ที่ขนานใหญ่โดยรัฐบาลเผด็จการและรัฐบาลประชาธิปไตยที่เป็นทุนนิยม ผู้อาศัยดั้งเดิมถูกไล่ออกจากผืนดินบรรพบุรุษ ไปผจญความอดอยากและถูกผลักให้ต้องไปขายแรงงานราคาถูกในเมืองใหญ่ หลายครอบครัวที่ยืนยันจะอยู่ถูกคุกคามทั้งทางตรงทางอ้อมอย่างอุกอาจจากทั้งกลุ่มนักแย่งยึดที่ดินและจากรัฐบาลของตนเอง
อย่างไรก็ตามหนังสือยังฉายให้เห็นภาพของอนาคตที่เกษตรกรรายย่อยจะกลับมาเป็นผู้นำในการผลิตอาหารแก่คนทั้งโลก ด้วยความร่วมมืออย่างแข็งขันระหว่างโลกเก่าและโลกใหม่ เทคโนโลยีการเข้าถึงข่าวสารช่วยให้เกษตรกรรายย่อยที่ดูเหมือนจะถูกทำให้สูญหายกลับมาประสบความสำเร็จอีกครั้ง แต่อนาคตอันสดใสนี้ยังต้องถูกจับตาดูต่อไป
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 16, 2015
Good:
* Eye opening coverages on injustices in the world.
Bad:
* The author is very biased against the "land grabbers". For example: he conveniently leaves out the atrocities done by Colombian FARC in an attempt to make the "land grabbers" look worse.
* The latter chapters feel very repetitive because essentially they are the same topic, just in different parts of the world with different actors.
* Eye opening coverages on injustices in the world.
Bad:
* The author is very biased against the "land grabbers". For example: he conveniently leaves out the atrocities done by Colombian FARC in an attempt to make the "land grabbers" look worse.
* The latter chapters feel very repetitive because essentially they are the same topic, just in different parts of the world with different actors.
July 15, 2019
A rather longish collection of only vaguely connected essays on various landgrabs. Too little analysis, too many boring and useless descriptions.
October 12, 2021
Scary. Anybody thinking about land yet?
Read
September 8, 2012Fred Pearce (2012) The Landgrabbers: The new fight over who owns the Earth. London: Transworld.
This is a good book full of references for anyone interested in global conflict between agribusinesses and small family farmers. What David Harvey’s (2003) New Imperialism terms ‘accumulation by dispossession’ features the protagonists that Fred Pearce calls The Landgrabbers.
In Britain Pearce is often read in The Guardian and the Times Higher Educational supplement. He notes that landgrabbing is dominated by hedge funds, anonymous institutional investors, and pension funds with trillions to invest (p.119). We should not forget sovereign funds from Mideast countries fearful of food embargoes, and now knowing that their once vast aquifers are too diminished to continue wheat or dairy farming. (Peak Water, anyone?!) Cash rich investors have increased global food commodity investments from roughly $30 billion to $300b from 2003 to 2010, driven by the bursting of the digital and housing ballons.
The last third of book reads like an annotated list of landgrabs. But that’s no bad thing, as these seem well researched, and retrievable with its useful index.
Some of us wil appreciate that Pearce closes the book reiterating Paul Collier’s (2008) book The Bottom Billion. Although Collier correctly excoriates the Bush administration for its wasteful subsidies of ethanol programmes, Pearce (like Aal, Jarosz & Thompson 2009 before him) counters Collier’s claim that what Africa needs is big farms of GM crops (see pp.343-346. Pearce compares this grandiose vision (unfortunately shared by the Gates Foundation in AGRA) to Lenin’s disruption of the Kulaks in the early 20th century, and predicts Collier’s prescription would result in more hunger in Africa. Pearce extols smallholder farming in Africa and lambasts structural adjustment programmes (SAPs, by IMF and World Bank) which stopped African governments’ ag extension programmes, and the sort of subsidies which have seen recent success in Malawi and Ghana (on Malawi see: Marie Javdani. 2012, IJAS; Ghana: Imogen Bellwood-Howard, UCL, from our RGS-IBG Edinburgh 2012 sesh).
Fred Pearce’s Landgrabbers evokes Upton Sinclair’s (1906) The Jungle. It reminds me also of Thomas Pynchon’s (1963) V (railing against European dismemberment of Africa in the 1898 Fashoda Incident).
This is a good book full of references for anyone interested in global conflict between agribusinesses and small family farmers. What David Harvey’s (2003) New Imperialism terms ‘accumulation by dispossession’ features the protagonists that Fred Pearce calls The Landgrabbers.
In Britain Pearce is often read in The Guardian and the Times Higher Educational supplement. He notes that landgrabbing is dominated by hedge funds, anonymous institutional investors, and pension funds with trillions to invest (p.119). We should not forget sovereign funds from Mideast countries fearful of food embargoes, and now knowing that their once vast aquifers are too diminished to continue wheat or dairy farming. (Peak Water, anyone?!) Cash rich investors have increased global food commodity investments from roughly $30 billion to $300b from 2003 to 2010, driven by the bursting of the digital and housing ballons.
The last third of book reads like an annotated list of landgrabs. But that’s no bad thing, as these seem well researched, and retrievable with its useful index.
Some of us wil appreciate that Pearce closes the book reiterating Paul Collier’s (2008) book The Bottom Billion. Although Collier correctly excoriates the Bush administration for its wasteful subsidies of ethanol programmes, Pearce (like Aal, Jarosz & Thompson 2009 before him) counters Collier’s claim that what Africa needs is big farms of GM crops (see pp.343-346. Pearce compares this grandiose vision (unfortunately shared by the Gates Foundation in AGRA) to Lenin’s disruption of the Kulaks in the early 20th century, and predicts Collier’s prescription would result in more hunger in Africa. Pearce extols smallholder farming in Africa and lambasts structural adjustment programmes (SAPs, by IMF and World Bank) which stopped African governments’ ag extension programmes, and the sort of subsidies which have seen recent success in Malawi and Ghana (on Malawi see: Marie Javdani. 2012, IJAS; Ghana: Imogen Bellwood-Howard, UCL, from our RGS-IBG Edinburgh 2012 sesh).
Fred Pearce’s Landgrabbers evokes Upton Sinclair’s (1906) The Jungle. It reminds me also of Thomas Pynchon’s (1963) V (railing against European dismemberment of Africa in the 1898 Fashoda Incident).
February 17, 2013
I decided to read this book as the idea of land grabbing was something that I had never heard of and seemed worthy of learning more about. The book does a great job of defining the motivations behind land grabs and also describing the land grabs which have occurred and continue to occur around the world.
The reason I gave the book only three stars is that I felt it could have gone into more detail about what can or should be done about these land grabs and perhaps what the long term impacts will be if nothing changes. Instead I found the book rather one dimensional because it just described one land grab after another, and as the stories unfolded each sounded much like the one before.
The book is certainly worth reading, especially if you find yourself in the position I was when I first approached this book, which was having no knowledge of this issue and eager to know more.
The reason I gave the book only three stars is that I felt it could have gone into more detail about what can or should be done about these land grabs and perhaps what the long term impacts will be if nothing changes. Instead I found the book rather one dimensional because it just described one land grab after another, and as the stories unfolded each sounded much like the one before.
The book is certainly worth reading, especially if you find yourself in the position I was when I first approached this book, which was having no knowledge of this issue and eager to know more.
August 27, 2013
One of the experts quoted in this book states that we have 20 years to deliver 40% more food, or the "perfect storm" --climate change, rising world populations, disintegrating ecosystems and land and water shortages will trigger a global food crisis that could see hundreds of millions starve. This book explores many of the land grabs by countries unable to grow enough of their own food (like Saudi Arabia) and by the very rich to exploit natural resources. Indigenous people are often trucked off their own tribal lands with no compensation, and corrupt govt. officials make deals that offer great improvements that never get built in exchange for huge tracts of land. There are a few success stories scattered throughout the book, but it's a pretty depressing view of the future, especially for Africa.
December 1, 2013
I had read about people buying up water rights, but was not aware of these giant land grabs. I am gob-smacked by how selfish and greedy so many people are. This book truly is a must read if you want to understand how the rich and powerful are manipulating food prices and availability and making deals that disenfranchise the powerless.
There is something so wrong when those in government can sell land in the public trust or communal lands to private interests and not be held accountable.
One thing of great importance that I learned from this book is that it is a very murky problem; corporations change names and land changes hands and a bulldozer doesn't replant trees, even when everyone knows they had no right to clear the land.
There is something so wrong when those in government can sell land in the public trust or communal lands to private interests and not be held accountable.
One thing of great importance that I learned from this book is that it is a very murky problem; corporations change names and land changes hands and a bulldozer doesn't replant trees, even when everyone knows they had no right to clear the land.
November 26, 2012
I got this book free through Goodreads First Reads.
Concise, easy to understad, and very informative. Just a few ways to describe this book. Fred Pearce is very knowledgeable and this is made clear in this interesting book about our Earth and the land on this Earth. Hardly painting a rosy picture, Pearce tells the reader how it is around the world. The main focus of the book is in Africa, where the biggest "land grabs" are happening. Pearce discusses topics such as conservation, peasant farming, globalization, and environmentalism. This book is great and you will learn many things while reading it.
Concise, easy to understad, and very informative. Just a few ways to describe this book. Fred Pearce is very knowledgeable and this is made clear in this interesting book about our Earth and the land on this Earth. Hardly painting a rosy picture, Pearce tells the reader how it is around the world. The main focus of the book is in Africa, where the biggest "land grabs" are happening. Pearce discusses topics such as conservation, peasant farming, globalization, and environmentalism. This book is great and you will learn many things while reading it.
July 11, 2013
I wish I could say that land grabbing ended with the ugly chapter on Native Americans and European settlers, but it's alive and well all over the world. Very depressing but informative book. Could have been better written- tends to become very dry and encyclopedic ("and then this big company bought this tract of land in this country, and this other big company bought this other tract of land, and then this other big company bought this third tract of land", and then so on and so forth) but it's still worth wading through these parts.
April 11, 2016
Fred Pearce has provided a very useful book for those trying to understand the modern agricultural world and its interaction with the wider global economy. It is a tragic and sad book, filled with the horrors of displaced people and lost lands. It is a damning indictment of a system organised in the interests of the few rather than the majority. It is a system that Pearce concludes is unable to provide for people today or in the future.
Full review; http://resolutereader.blogspot.co.uk/...
Full review; http://resolutereader.blogspot.co.uk/...
January 24, 2013
Fearful stuff that doesnt make the me, the reader, feel good. Wish the author offered something encouraging. I admit that I didnt read every chapter. I skipped around, tasting the bitterness of land grabbers in Africa and and other parts of the world. Depressing.
July 18, 2020
A very informative and well-researched book. While the book dwells on landgrabs done by rich Western Corporations and individuals, most of the land grabs in post-independence Africa have been orchestrated by the African elite.
October 8, 2014
While I enjoyed the author's other books, this one bored me to tears.
December 8, 2012
Good info that we should all know about
February 23, 2013
I really wanted to love this book, and maybe that's why I'm a little disappointed. The topic is really interesting, but the story-telling is not really cohesive and I lose focus or get bored.
Read
May 4, 2013333.3 P3593 2013
May 16, 2013
All useful ( only sort of repetitious , simply because the same thing is happening all over ) Hadn't heard the terms ' smallholder ' or ' outgrower ' before
November 12, 2013
A brilliant exploration of this worldwide problem
December 8, 2013
The hidden commodity ... Land ... next to Oil.
Africa is not owned by Africa anymore but by Saudi
Something different to read
Africa is not owned by Africa anymore but by Saudi
Something different to read
September 5, 2015
Books like this just make me angry. Of course, knowing who "those people" are is (I think) one of the best rfor reading it, but it will depress and piss you off, for sure.
Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews