The rise of financial investment and common ownership in global agrifood firms

“…firms relies on large-scale monoculture farming practices that have been associated with high fossil fuel use, climate change, biodiversity loss, water shortages, and chemical run off from the increased application of fertilizers and pesticides (Benbrook, 2016; Foley et al., 2011; Garnett, 2013).”

“…have paid increasing attention to the process of financialization and its political and economic effects across a range of sectors, including food and agriculture, in recent decades (for a review, see Burch & Lawrence, 2013; Epstein, 2005; Krippner, 2011; Schmidt, 2016; van der Zwan, 2014).”

“…has also permeated everyday practices to the extent that states have downloaded the responsibility for managing risk onto individuals who in turn are encouraged by financial actors to utilize new financial products as a way to enhance their own security (Aitken, 2007; Isakson, 2015; Martin, 2002).”

“Shareholders can make their preferences known to firms’ management via direct engagement, threats to sell stock (in the case of actively managed funds), and voting on the board regarding management decisions, including executive pay incentives (Azar et al., 2018; OECD, 2017).”

“In other words, the causes and effects are ‘distanced’ from one another, making political mobilization around the issue challenging (Clapp, 2014, 2015; Princen, 2002).”

“However, these technologies are deeply integrated with the continued promotion of existing genetically modified seeds and associated herbicides (Bronson & Knezevic, 2016).”

“J.D. Rockefeller owned significant shares across a range of large firms (Fichtner et al., 2017; Krouse, Benoit, & McGinty, 2016).”

“The emergence of real estate investment trusts and other farmland linked investment funds have also attracted large institutional investors (Desmarais, Qualman, Magnan, & Wiebe, 2017; Fairbairn, 2014; Magnan, 2015).”

“fossil fuel use, climate change, biodiversity loss, water shortages, and chemical run off from the increased application of fertilizers and pesticides (Benbrook, 2016; Foley et al., 2011; Garnett, 2013).”

“’(2) Patterns of common ownership are on the rise more generally in many sectors, and a growing number of analysts have pointed to the ways in which it can encourage anti-competitive behavior and increase corporate power (Azar, Schmalz, & Tecu 2018; Schmalz, 2018; Elhauge, 2016).”

“Brooks, Chen, and Zeng (2018) found that there is more likely to be a merger event between firms when they share institutional owners, which can effectively reduce the number of competitors within a sector and increase the market share of each of the firms that remain.”

“This type of financial speculation has been associated with higher and more volatile food prices, which compromises ability of poor people to access food (De Schutter, 2010; Ghosh, 2010; Worthy, 2011).”

“These firms are able to influence policy and governance via a number of mechanisms, including lobbying policymakers directly, structural influence over policymaking owing to their significance in the economy, and through the ability to shape discourse (Fuchs, 2007; Ruggie, 2018).”

“…sector, ranging from heightened food price volatility to fragile land rights for farmers, have received attention from global bodies such as the Food and Agriculture Organization, the World Bank, and the G20, to determine appropriate international governance responses (Clapp & Isakson, 2018).”

“…has also permeated everyday practices to the extent that states have downloaded the responsibility for managing risk onto individuals who in turn are encouraged by financial actors to utilize new financial products as a way to enhance their own security (Aitken, 2007; Isakson, 2015; Martin, 2002).”

“In other words, the causes and effects are ‘distanced’ from one another, making political mobilization around the issue challenging (Clapp, 2014, 2015; Princen, 2002).”

“…prices without associated increases in quality or service is potentially much higher in markets that are already concentrated (OECD, 2017, p. 20; Diez et al., 2018, p. 13), and given the high degree of concentration in the agricultural input sector, it is likely that common ownership has…”

“The emergence of real estate investment trusts and other farmland linked investment funds have also attracted large institutional investors (Desmarais, Qualman, Magnan, & Wiebe, 2017; Fairbairn, 2014; Magnan, 2015).”

“actors to utilize new financial products as a way to enhance their own security (Aitken, 2007; Isakson, 2015; Martin, 2002).”

“…financial investment in farmland has led to calls from civil society and many governments for international governance initiatives to protect land tenure rights and ensure responsible land investment, including the UN Voluntary Guidelines on land tenure (Margulis & Porter, 2013; McKeon, 2013).”

“…financial investment in farmland has led to calls from civil society and many governments for international governance initiatives to protect land tenure rights and ensure responsible land investment, including the UN Voluntary Guidelines on land tenure (Margulis & Porter, 2013; McKeon, 2013).”

“…as a form of ‘land grabbing’, and numerous case studies have documented the impact of international land deals on land tenure rights in countries affected by such investments (e.g. Cotula, 2013; Desmarais et al., 2017; Larder, Sippel, & Argent, 2018; White, Borras, Hall, Scoones, & Wolford, 2012).”

“CIFs track the value of a bundle of commodities, including agricultural commodities, and allow investors to buy into the market without having to purchase physical commodities or even commodity futures contracts (Baines, 2017; Ghosh, 2010; Russi, 2013).”

“Much of the investment in farmland in the past decade has been focused on largescale industrial agricultural production, particularly for biofuels (Neville, 2015).”

“Such data is not always easily available and there is an emerging debate regarding the most appropriate methods for analysing that data (e.g. Azar et al., 2018; Elhauge 2018; O’Brien & Waehrer, 2017; OECD, 2017).”

“…controlled 62% of the market (up from a 55% share for the top three firms in 2013), and the top three agro-chemical firms (Bayer-Monsanto, ChemChina-Syngenta, and BASF) controlled 59% of the market (up from a 51% share for the top three firms in 2013; ETC Group, 2015; Mooney, 2018).”

“A small number of private equity firms—mainly Blackrock, Vanguard, State Street, Capital Group and Fidelity—have funnelled vast amounts of equity into publicly listed food and beverage corporations, providing them with access to finance for accelerated global expansion.(219)”

“Delving more deeply and critically into the international political economy (IPE) of artificial intelligence, however, reveals that the vast majority of these apparent gains entail costs for marginalized peoples, distant ecosystems, and future generations – costs that CSR rhetoric and metrics are obscuring from consum…”