‘Pinstripes on the prairies’: examining the financialization of farming systems in the Canadian prairie provinces

AbstractDrawing on recent scholarship on the financialization of agro-food systems and the global land grab, this paper examines new forms of financial investment in agriculture in the Canadian prairie provinces. We examine the factors underpinning investor involvement in the sector, including its anticipated financial performance as well as processes of agricultural restructuring that, combined with government actions to liberalize farmland ownership, have facilitated the enrollment of land and labour into new financial vehicles. We focus in particular on the emergence of two new forms of investment vehicles – farmland investment funds and an exchange-traded farming corporation – comparing the business model and investment strategy of each. In doing so, we highlight the ways in which the new investment patterns may propel the restructuring of the agricultural sector, alter power relations among key actors, and introduce new logics into the farming landscape. Our findings allow us to comment on the relevance of the land grabbing frame for making sense of the financialization of agriculture in the global North.Keywords: financializationagriculturefarmlandCanadaprairieland grabindigenous peoples AcknowledgementsThe authors wish to thank Saturnino (Jun) Borras and three anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments. This research was carried out with the aid of grants from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (www.sshrc-crsh.gc.ca), the International Development Research Centre (www.idrc.ca), and the Land Deal Politics Initiative.Additional informationNotes on contributorsMelanie Sommerville is a PhD candidate in the Department of Geography at the University of British Columbia, Canada. Her research explores the changing geopolitics and political economy of agro-food systems, with a specific focus on the intersection of processes of financialization, agrarian change, land reform and marginalization in Canada and South Africa.Notes on contributorsAndré Magnan is an associate professor in the Department of Sociology and Social Studies at the University of Regina, Canada. His research examines the political economy of local and global food systems, with a focus on the history and politics of grain marketing on the Canadian prairies and changing patterns of farm ownership and control in Canada and Australia. Email: andre.magnan@uregina.ca