Global Land Prices Surge, Creating Unprecedented ‘Land Squeeze’
Source: The DairyNews
The International Panel of Experts on Sustainable Food Systems (IPES-Food) released a report on Monday, May 13, highlighting a two-decade trend of soaring land prices, land grabs, and carbon schemes that are creating a severe ‘land squeeze.’ This phenomenon is threatening farmers and food production globally.
The report emerges as land issues gain prominence on the global agenda. A recent World Bank report on net-zero in food systems called for measures to curb forest-to-cropland conversions. Concurrently, Brazil has launched an agrarian reform policy aiming to allocate land to 295,000 families by 2026.
IPES-Food’s study reveals an alarming rise in land grabbing through various mechanisms, including ‘green grabs,’ opaque financial instruments, speculation, rapid resource extraction, and intensive export crop production. Since 2000, transnational land deals have claimed land twice the size of Germany.
Significant new pressures arise from ‘green grabs’ for carbon and biodiversity offset projects, conservation initiatives, and clean fuels. Governments and corporations are acquiring vast farmland swathes for these initiatives, which now constitute 20% of large-scale land deals. Pledges for land-based carbon removals alone encompass nearly 1.2 billion hectares, equivalent to total global cropland. The carbon offset market is expected to quadruple in the next seven years.
This trend is particularly affecting sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America, with growing land inequality in Central-Eastern Europe, North and Latin America, and South Asia. Currently, 70% of the world’s farmland is controlled by just 1% of the largest farms. In Latin America, the smallest 55% of farms occupy only 3% of the land.
Between 2008 and 2022, global land prices nearly doubled and tripled in Central-Eastern Europe. In the UK, farmland prices doubled from 2010 to 2015 due to investment influxes from pension funds and private wealth. In 2018, nearly 45% of all farmland investments, worth approximately $15 billion, originated from pension funds and insurance companies.
As land demand continues unchecked, this ‘land squeeze’ exacerbates land inequality, making small- and medium-scale food production increasingly unviable. This trend leads to farmer revolts, rural exodus, rural poverty, and food insecurity. Farmers, peasants, and indigenous peoples are losing land or being forced to downsize, while young farmers face significant barriers in accessing land.
The IPES-Food expert panel calls for decisive actions to address these issues:
Nettie Wiebe, IPES-Food expert from Canada, added, “Imagine trying to start a farm when 70% of farmland is already controlled by just 1% of the largest farms – and when land prices have risen for 20 years in a row, like in North America. That’s the stark reality young farmers face today. Farmland is increasingly owned not by farmers but by speculators, pension funds, and big agribusinesses looking to cash in. Land prices have skyrocketed so high it’s becoming impossible to make a living from farming. This is reaching a tipping point – small- and medium-scale farming are simply being squeezed out.”
IPES-Food’s study reveals an alarming rise in land grabbing through various mechanisms, including ‘green grabs,’ opaque financial instruments, speculation, rapid resource extraction, and intensive export crop production. Since 2000, transnational land deals have claimed land twice the size of Germany.
Significant new pressures arise from ‘green grabs’ for carbon and biodiversity offset projects, conservation initiatives, and clean fuels. Governments and corporations are acquiring vast farmland swathes for these initiatives, which now constitute 20% of large-scale land deals. Pledges for land-based carbon removals alone encompass nearly 1.2 billion hectares, equivalent to total global cropland. The carbon offset market is expected to quadruple in the next seven years.
This trend is particularly affecting sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America, with growing land inequality in Central-Eastern Europe, North and Latin America, and South Asia. Currently, 70% of the world’s farmland is controlled by just 1% of the largest farms. In Latin America, the smallest 55% of farms occupy only 3% of the land.
Between 2008 and 2022, global land prices nearly doubled and tripled in Central-Eastern Europe. In the UK, farmland prices doubled from 2010 to 2015 due to investment influxes from pension funds and private wealth. In 2018, nearly 45% of all farmland investments, worth approximately $15 billion, originated from pension funds and insurance companies.
As land demand continues unchecked, this ‘land squeeze’ exacerbates land inequality, making small- and medium-scale food production increasingly unviable. This trend leads to farmer revolts, rural exodus, rural poverty, and food insecurity. Farmers, peasants, and indigenous peoples are losing land or being forced to downsize, while young farmers face significant barriers in accessing land.
The IPES-Food expert panel calls for decisive actions to address these issues:
- Halt green grabs and remove speculative investment from land markets.
- Establish integrated governance for land, environment, and food systems to ensure a just transition.
- Support collective ownership and innovative financing for farmers to access land.
- Forge a new deal for farmers and rural areas, and a new generation of land and agrarian reforms.
Nettie Wiebe, IPES-Food expert from Canada, added, “Imagine trying to start a farm when 70% of farmland is already controlled by just 1% of the largest farms – and when land prices have risen for 20 years in a row, like in North America. That’s the stark reality young farmers face today. Farmland is increasingly owned not by farmers but by speculators, pension funds, and big agribusinesses looking to cash in. Land prices have skyrocketed so high it’s becoming impossible to make a living from farming. This is reaching a tipping point – small- and medium-scale farming are simply being squeezed out.”
