How do financialised agri-corporate investors acquire farmland? Analysing land investment in an Australian agricultural region, 2004–2019

Abstract

This article uses a purpose-designed land parcels database covering all rural land transactions over 16 years (2004–2019 inclusive) to document the ways in which financialised agri-corporate investors acquired farmland in a major Australian cropping and grazing region, New England North West (NENW). Framing these investments through the lens of strategic coupling reveals a mix of land acquisition strategies. Almost 200,000 ha of farmland was acquired by financialised agri-corporate investors in NENW during the study period. Approximately one-third was acquired through takeovers of stock market listed agricultural companies or unlisted agricultural asset management companies, another third involved the purchase of farms already packaged into assetised forms by prior rounds of restructuring and the final third involved the purchase and aggregation of family farms. We interpret this mix of entry modes to indicate a flexible and opportunistic set of dynamics in how financialised agri-corporate investors amass their land assets, underlining their reach and scope in the restructuring of regional agricultures.