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Governing large-scale farmland acquisitions in Québec: the conventional family farm model questioned

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  • Frantz Gheller

    (Université de Montréal)

Abstract

This article argues that the definition of land grabs in public debate is a politically contested process with profound normative consequences for policy recommendations regarding the future of the family farm model. To substantiate this argument, I first explore how different definitions of land grabbing bring into focus different kinds of actors and briefly survey the history of land grabbing in Canada. I then introduce the public debate about land grabbing in Québec and discuss its evolution from its beginning in 2009 up until the provincial public inquiry on land grabs in March 2015. Here, I make critical observations regarding each participant’s position, showing how different definitions of land grabbing has significant implications for policy recommendation and the promotion of different agricultural business models. More specifically, I emphasize how these discussions crucially fail to consider indigenous people’s land rights and ignore the constraints imposed by the corporate food regime on family farms. I conclude by suggesting that the adoption of a food sovereignty approach to land governance helps redirect attention to these important issues and provide insight into imagining more sustainable alternative models of agriculture.

Suggested Citation

  • Frantz Gheller, 2018. "Governing large-scale farmland acquisitions in Québec: the conventional family farm model questioned," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 35(3), pages 623-636, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:agrhuv:v:35:y:2018:i:3:d:10.1007_s10460-018-9855-7
    DOI: 10.1007/s10460-018-9855-7
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Oane Visser, 2017. "Running out of farmland? Investment discourses, unstable land values and the sluggishness of asset making," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 34(1), pages 185-198, March.
    2. Annette Aurélie Desmarais & Darrin Qualman & André Magnan & Nettie Wiebe, 2017. "Investor ownership or social investment? Changing farmland ownership in Saskatchewan, Canada," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 34(1), pages 149-166, March.
    3. Marc Edelman & Carlos Oya & Saturnino M Borras, 2013. "Global Land Grabs: historical processes, theoretical and methodological implications and current trajectories," Third World Quarterly, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 34(9), pages 1517-1531, October.
    4. Ruth Hall, 2011. "Land grabbing in Southern Africa: the many faces of the investor rush," Review of African Political Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 38(128), pages 193-214, June.
    5. Saturnino M. Borras & Jennifer C. Franco & Sofía Monsalve Suárez, 2015. "Land and food sovereignty," Third World Quarterly, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 36(3), pages 600-617, March.
    6. Alison Blay-Palmer & Roberta Sonnino & Julien Custot, 2016. "A food politics of the possible? Growing sustainable food systems through networks of knowledge," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 33(1), pages 27-43, March.
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