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Persistent farmland imaginaries: celebration of fertile soil and the recurrent ignorance of climate

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  • Oane Visser

    (The Hague, of Erasmus University Rotterdam)

Abstract

This article looks at how imaginaries of land and climate play a role in farmland investment discourses and practices. Foreign farmland investors in the fertile black earth region of Russia and Ukraine have ‘celebrated’ soil fertility while largely ignoring climatic factors. The article shows a centuries-long history of outsiders coming to the region lured by the fertile soils, while grossly underestimating climate which has had disastrous implications for farm viability and the environment. Comparisons with historical and contemporary literature on other regions (e.g. the US prairies and North Africa) suggest that the underestimation of climatic risks by newcomers is remarkably prevalent in resource frontiers.

Suggested Citation

  • Oane Visser, 2021. "Persistent farmland imaginaries: celebration of fertile soil and the recurrent ignorance of climate," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 38(1), pages 313-326, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:agrhuv:v:38:y:2021:i:1:d:10.1007_s10460-020-10154-1
    DOI: 10.1007/s10460-020-10154-1
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Oane Visser, 2017. "Running out of farmland? Investment discourses, unstable land values and the sluggishness of asset making," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 34(1), pages 185-198, March.
    2. Marc Edelman & Andrés León, 2013. "Cycles of Land Grabbing in Central America: an argument for history and a case study in the Bajo Aguán, Honduras," Third World Quarterly, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 34(9), pages 1697-1722, October.
    3. Wendy Wolford & Saturnino M. Borras Jr. & Ruth Hall & Ian Scoones & Ben White & Wendy Wolford & Saturnino M. Borras Jr. & Ruth Hall & Ian Scoones & Ben White, 2013. "Governing Global Land Deals: The Role of the State in the Rush for Land," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 44(2), pages 189-210, March.
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    Cited by:

    1. Sarah Ruth Sippel, 2023. "Tackling land’s ‘stubborn materiality’: the interplay of imaginaries, data and digital technologies within farmland assetization," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 40(3), pages 849-863, September.

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