Making the most of agricultural investment

Recent years have witnessed a renewed interest in agricultural investment. In many cases, this new momentum has translated into large-scale acquisitions of farmland in lower- and middle-income countries. Partly as a result of sustained media attention, these acquisitions have triggered lively if polarised debates about “land grabbing”. Less attention has been paid, however, to alternative ways of structuring agricultural investments that do not involve large-scale land acquisitions. These include a wide range of more collaborative arrangements between large-scale investors and local small-scale farmers and communities, such as diverse types of contract farming schemes, joint ventures, management contracts and new supply chain relationships.