The struggle for land and the preservation of seed diversity are deeply interconnected. As land is increasingly monopolized by large entities, the diverse farming systems maintained by small-scale farmers and seed savers are being eroded.
As mentioned in the latest IPES report “Land Squeeze“, the access to and control over land has been shaped by long-standing processes of discrimination, oppression, and dispossession. Today, farmers, pastoralists, Indigenous Peoples, and marginalized groups are facing renewed threats as the pressures on land evolve and multiply, while new generations face huge barriers to accessing land and entering agriculture”
Drivers of Land Squeeze
The report released by IPES Food presents 4 drivers of what they call Land Squeeze:
Driver 1. Land grabbing 2.0: deregulation, financialization & rapid resource extraction
Driver 2. Green grabbing: big conservation, offsets & the green energy agenda
Driver 3. Expansion & encroachment: mining, urbanization, and mega-infrastructure developments
Driver 4. Food system reconfiguration: agri-food sector industrialization & consolidation
IPES Food recommendations
The recommendations from the IPES Food report provide a roadmap for addressing the drivers of the Land Squeeze and ensuring that land and agricultural resources remain in the hands of those who are best equipped to steward them—farmers, pastoralists, Indigenous Peoples, and marginalized communities.
- Build integrated land, environmental, and food systems governance to halt green grabs and ensure a just and human rights-based transition.
- From commodity to community: get speculative capital out of land markets and get land into the hands of farmers.
- Forge a new social contract, and a new generation of land and agrarian reforms.
