Abstract

Agricultural land in the United States is currently undergoing a major transition. Seventy percent of land is expected to change hands in the next 20 years, with many existing farmers ready to retire and lacking heirs interested in agriculture.

This moment is not lost on financial institutions, which are buying up land in search of new sources of rentier profit, further fueling land concentration. At the same time, beginning farmers are struggling to access land and movements for racial justice have contributed to a growing recognition of ongoing inequities in distribution.

These trends have converged to result in an increasing number of land access initiatives, as well as a new wave of scholarship on land access, land justice, and land reform in the U.S. context.

We critically assess this pivotal moment in agricultural land access and redistribution in the United States, exploring the scholarship which looks at transitions through a reformist policy lens as well as research and advocacy work that argues for a more radical rethinking of political economic structures surrounding land.