The Rise of Large Farms in Land Abundant Countries : Do They Have A Future?

Increased levels and volatility of food
prices has led to a surge of interest in large-scale
agriculture and land acquisition. This creates challenges
for policy makers aiming to establish a policy environment
conducive to an agrarian structure to contribute to
broad-based development in the long term. Based on a
historical review of episodes of growth of large farms and
their impact, this paper identifies factors underlying the
dominance of owner-operated farm structures and ways in
which these may change with development. The amount of land
that could potentially be available for expansion and the
level of productivity in exploiting available land resources
are used to establish a country-level typology. The authors
highlight that an assessment of the advantages of large
operations, together with information on endowments, can
provide input into strategy formulation at the country
level. A review of recent cases of land acquisition
reinforces the importance of the policy framework in
determining outcomes. It suggests that transparency and
contract enforcement, recognition of local land rights and
ways in which they can be exercised, attention to employment
effects and technical viability, and mechanisms to
re-allocate land from unsuccessful ventures to more
productive entrepreneurs are key areas warranting the
attention of policy makers.