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Responsibility to the rescue? Governing private financial investment in global agriculture

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  • Jennifer Clapp

    (University of Waterloo)

Abstract

This paper examines the recent rise of initiatives for responsible agricultural investment and provides a preliminary assessment of their likely success in curbing the ecological and social costs associated with the growth in private financial investment in the sector over the past decade. I argue that voluntary responsible investment initiatives for agriculture are likely to face similar weaknesses to those experienced in responsible investment initiatives more generally. These include vague and difficult to enforce guidelines, low participation rates, an uneven business case, and confusion arising from multiple and competing initiatives. In addition, the large diversity of investors and high degree of complexity of financial investments further complicate efforts to discern who bears the burden of responsibility in practice. As a result, there is a strong likelihood that voluntary governance initiatives for responsible agricultural investment will shift discourse more than they will change practice.

Suggested Citation

  • Jennifer Clapp, 2017. "Responsibility to the rescue? Governing private financial investment in global agriculture," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 34(1), pages 223-235, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:agrhuv:v:34:y:2017:i:1:d:10.1007_s10460-015-9678-8
    DOI: 10.1007/s10460-015-9678-8
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    3. Narcisa Requelme & Ana Afonso, 2023. "The Principles for Responsible Investment in Agriculture (CFS-RAI) and SDG 2 and SDG 12 in Agricultural Policies: Case Study of Ecuador," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(22), pages 1-17, November.
    4. Hamam, Manal & Spina, Daniela & Selvaggi, Roberta & Vindigni, Gabriella & Pappalardo, Gioacchino & D’Amico, Mario & Chinnici, Gaetano, 2023. "Financial sustainability in agri-food supply chains: A system approach," Economia agro-alimentare / Food Economy, Italian Society of Agri-food Economics/Società Italiana di Economia Agro-Alimentare (SIEA), vol. 25(2), October.
    5. Sändig, Jan, 2021. "Contesting large-scale land acquisitions in the Global South," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 146(C).
    6. Yongfeng Tan & Apurbo Sarkar & Airin Rahman & Lu Qian & Waqar Hussain Memon & Zharkyn Magzhan, 2021. "Does External Shock Influence Farmer’s Adoption of Modern Irrigation Technology?—A Case of Gansu Province, China," Land, MDPI, vol. 10(8), pages 1-16, August.
    7. Roche, Julian Spencer, 2020. "Success criteria for commodity exchanges," African Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, African Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 15(2), June.

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