ABSTRACT

The last decade has witnessed a remarkable interlocking of agriculture in financial ventures. Available capital, either domestic or foreign, mostly detached from its sector(s) of origin, has identified farms and land as areas worthy of investments. This chapter analyses the case of Slovakia, a country in which the current increase in (international) farm/land demand has also substantially reshaped farm/land ownership and use. Foreign financial or farm groups, several domestic private investors, and some mysterious firms cooperating with real-estate agencies have entered the field and radically altered both inter- and intra-farm relations. This study focuses on relational and interactional aspects of transactional accomplishments as they are experienced by and interpreted from the perspective of the stakeholders from a country which is the object of such investments. This chapter provides a close exploration of circumstances, lived encounters, applied strategies, and puzzling considerations, which local actors undergo and deal with when facing the momentous opportunities and consequential challenges financial investors bring. It is argued that interpreting the reactions and actions from below, not as discrete (sub)cases, but as interacting and constituents of an organizational field, might benefit our understanding of farm/land and finance developments.