Towards a Green Assetization of Farmland? a Study of the ‘Boundary Work’ of Financialization, between Financial Actors and Regulators

This article examines the dynamics of the financialization of farmland (Fairbairn, 2020) in the French/EU case, with the objective to show that a “green” assetization of the resource is in preparation. Following studies of the financialization of public policies (Chiapello, 2017; Benquet et al., 2019), it symmetrically examines financial actors and regulators to analyze the ‘boundary work’ of financialization (Boussard, 2018). As a key resource to answer to climate and biodiversity crises (Granjou, Meulemans, 2023), farmland is constituted as a tool of ecological transformation by both the private sector and the State. If previous studies have focused on civil society movements buying farmland for ecological and social purposes, the article focuses on the strategies of financial actors in relation with regulators. In a context where French farmland is one of the most regulated markets in the EU, the article examines a diversity of actors and investment strategies that seek to render farmland “investible". The main result is a typology of the divisions within the financial world and their relationship with the State within the EU regulatory context, particularly the CAP and the Green Deal, as this assetization wave capitalizes on the ecological crisis and associated compensation markets. In particular, institutional investors (notably investment banks and insurance companies) appear more hesitant than the actors of "second financialization," such as asset managers (Braun, 2022). The financialization of farmland also takes the form of a “start-upization”, with actors playing the role of intermediaries between institutional investors and public authorities. The study is based on a series of interviews with funds’ representatives and regulators, as well ethnographic observations of investors’ conferences.