Land Speculation by International Financial Capital in Brazil

• Author: Maria Luisa Mendonça,Fábio Teixeira Pitta
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/0094582X221115693
• Published date: 01 September 2022
• Date: 01 September 2022
• Subject Matter: Articles

https://doi.org/10.1177/0094582X221115693

LATIN AMERICAN PERSPECTIVES, Issue 246, Vol. 49 No. 5, September 2022, 146–160

DOI: 10.1177/0094582X221115693

© 2022 Latin American Perspectives

146

Land Speculation by International Financial Capital in

Brazil

by

Maria Luisa Mendonça and Fábio Teixeira Pitta

The global economic crisis in 2007–2008 intensified the role of financial capital in

farmland markets around the world. Speculation in land facilitates the circulation of

financial capital in a context of international economic instability. This trend is stimu-

lated by foreign pension funds in search of new assets. The economic crisis generated a

change in the profile of agribusiness in Brazil through mergers and joint ventures not only

with foreign agricultural corporations but also with financial and oil corporations. As

these corporations concentrated their operations, the increase in the prices of their shares

in the stock markets facilitated their access to credit for further expansion. This process of

crisis accumulation was marked by the overexploitation of labor and predatory control

over natural resources. The expansion of monocropping of agricultural commodities

increased land prices, causing environmental destruction and the displacement of peasant

communities.

A crise econômica global em 2007-2008 intensificou o papel do capital financeiro nos

mercados de terras agrícolas em todo o mundo. A especulação fundiária facilita a circula-

ção do capital financeiro em um contexto de instabilidade econômica internacional. Essa

tendência é estimulada por fundos de pensão estrangeiros em busca de novos ativos. A

crise econômica gerou uma mudança no perfil do agronegócio no Brasil por meio de fusões

e joint ventures não apenas com empresas agrícolas estrangeiras, mas também com empre-

sas financeiras e petrolíferas. À medida em que essas corporações concentravam suas

operações, o aumento das cotações de suas ações nas bolsas de valores facilitou seu acesso

a crédito para maior expansão. Esse processo de acumulação e crise foi marcado pela super-

exploração do trabalho e pelo controle predatório de recursos naturais. A expansão do

monocultivo de commodities agrícolas aumentou o preço da terra, causando destruição

ambiental e deslocamento de comunidades camponesas.

Keywords: Agricultural systems, Agribusiness, Farmland speculation, Financial capi-

tal, Land markets

This article is based on our research on the interconnected dynamics of

financial markets and land markets as they increase land concentration, dis-

placement of rural communities, and environmental destruction in Brazil. The

global economic crisis of 2008 intensified speculation in farmland by financial

capital around the world. Speculation in land facilitates the circulation of finan-

cial capital in a context of international economic instability. A tendency of

Maria Luisa Mendonça is a research scholar at the Center for Place, Culture, and Politics of the

City University of New York Graduate Center. Fábio Teixeira Pitta is an assistant professor in the

Geography Department of the Universidade de São Paulo.

1115693LAPXXX10.1177/0094582X221115693Mendonça and Pitta/LAND SPECULATION IN BRAZIL

research-article2022