Agri-investment scholars of the world unite! The finance-driven land rush as boundary object

Summary: This paper examines how farmland investors turn environmental uncertainty into an advantage, exploiting both temporal uncertainties associated with resource management under climate change and spatial uncertainties inherent to all subsurface resources. The case study reveals that investors assert their preferred land imaginaries and improve property values through participation in groundwater governance and the establishment of water-related infrastructure. Material and legal uncertainties of groundwater access provide a potentially lucrative opening for investors to leverage in farmland investment.

Summary: This paper argues that studying the global history of capitalism through the lens of commodity frontiers and using commodity regimes as an analytical framework is crucial for understanding the origins and nature of capitalism. Commodity frontiers are seen as processes rooted in a profound restructuring of the countryside and nature, connecting processes of extraction, exchange, and degradation in rural peripheries. The challenge of accounting for the variety of actors and places involved in this history is highlighted, with global history contributing crucial insights.