Financialization of agriculture and land rent

the Argentine mega-companies in Brazil

Abstract

The beginning of the 21st century was marked by the even more significant presence of financial capital in agriculture and the global land market. Investments were directed towards countries with agricultural dynamism and the availability of spaces for the expansion of intensive commodity production, such as Brazil and Argentina. Investments were not restricted to the traditional North-South movements; they also included cross-investments between countries in the Global South, as seen in the South American case. This article analyzes the genesis and cross-border accumulation strategies of the Argentine company Cresud and its Brazilian subsidiary, Brasilagro. In addition to a literature review, primary data were collected through semi-structured interviews and secondary data were obtained from corporate reports. The article reveals how the association between large Argentine mega-companies and financial capital enabled territorial expansion, with cross-border movements, as well as how it tightened the logics of appropriation and speculation between urban and agricultural real estate. It also emphasizes how financialization is an inherent dynamic of capitalist development by demonstrating the inseparability between rentier and productive capital, as well as the pursuit of transforming land into a financial asset.