I already tweeted about this once this week, but this paper really is so very good and satisfying. It answers the question, What happens when rich people buy big tracts of land in Latin America, Sub-Saharan Africa, Eastern Europe, and Asia? The answer is https://www.pnas.org/content/118/4/e2020535118

Developed using a rigorous quantitative approach that draws on explicit geospatial data covering transnational land deals over the last 2 decades, as well as repeated household dietary surveys. They found that these deals, often touted as “development,” may have increased

Crop productivity on the purchased plots, but they also drove changes in cultivated crops from diverse, nutrient rich ones destined for local consumption to “energy-rich, nutrient-poor” flex crops such as sugar cane, palm oil, and soy destined for export markets. The result was

Paradoxical increase in productivity paired with a decrease in food security. You guys, it’s not about production efficiency!!!! It’s all about the power dynamic. Anyway, it’s a great paper. I’m going to cite it frequently. And it’s also filled with lots of other rich tidbits,

Like that these land acquisitions don’t even always result in an increase in production and are increasingly abandoned or left to lay fallow, resulting in a decrease in productivity relative to the small holder systems or even foraging they displaced.

Thanks for sharing, @cadwego @sarah_k_mock you might enjoy this paper if you haven’t read it already.