Who Owns Rural America: Land & Water Workshop Review
Important recent scholarship has documented growing “land grab” dynamics across North America, including not only the financialization of farmland but also trends toward increasing concentration and commodification in housing, water, and other resource markets. This July, the Rural Reconciliation Project hosted interdisciplinary scholars in Lincoln, Nebraska, to discuss pressing issues related to this changing ownership of land and water resources. This post recaps highlights from that “Who Owns Rural America?” workshop in order to continue and expand these important conversations.
Participants, including interdisciplinary scholars selected through a Call for Proposals, engaged in two days of conversation—both workshopping individual projects and contributing to more open-ended roundtable discussions. Conversations centered on possible community- and research-related responses to the growing disconnect between the control of local resources and the impacts on local livelihoods.
“This issue of who owns and controls rural America is the pressing question for the future of rural landscapes and rural communities,” said Jessica Shoemaker, who organized the workshop as part of her Andrew Carnegie Fellowship. “Land and resource governance is right at the heart of many of our biggest challenges of the moment, including rapid climate change, increasing inequality, and changing rural demographics.”
This workshop is part of the Rural Reconciliation Project's ongoing programming on the theme "Land and Water: Rural Resources, Rural Livelihoods." More details about the event follow. For more information and to stay updated on Project activities, subscribe here.
ORGANIZER
Professor of Law, University of Nebraska College of Law
Professor Shoemaker researches how systems of land tenure adapt over time, as well as property law’s power to shape human communities and natural environments. She is an Andrew Carnegie Fellow and a former Fulbright Canada Research Chair in Aboriginal Legal and Resource Rights at the University of Alberta. She has a special interest in issues of racial justice and agricultural sustainability across the American countryside and in Indigenous land tenure and governance in the United States and Canada. At this event, Shoemaker workshopped her current draft, Re-Placing Property, as well as a co-authored draft project with Professor James Tierney on financial regulation and farmland investment.
PARTICIPANTS
Professor of Law and Research Associate Professor of Agricultural Economics, Texas A&M University
Professor Casado Pérez’s research interests are in property and water law and are driven by real-world problems. She looks to help students deepen their understanding of issues they care about and sees the law as a joint and collaborative process. Her scholarship covers the topics of natural resources, water courts, and environmental protection. Casado Pérez presented her upcoming project, Water on Wall Street.
“This was interdisciplinary at its best. As law academics we need to be consumers of other disciplines' work in order to understand how the law affects the real world. This workshop offered me a condensed course on the best scholarship on land and water financialization from a geography, history, policy and sociology approach. I also learned about the on-the-ground issues different areas of the US are suffering and how those communities are responding. This was the best workshop I have attended in a very long time.”
Fellow, History & American Studies, Harvard Society of Fellows
Dr. Cervantes researches in the areas of poverty studies, immigration policy, labor, political economy, social history, and urban history. His most recent scholarship covers the history of Texas border communities (called las colonias) and is especially focused on areas of high concentrations of poverty. At this workshop, Cervantes presented an in-progress book chapter on the land regime of the Texas colonias.
“The interdisciplinarity of scholars assembled at this workshop was stunning and invigorating. Conversations were always robust and generous.”
Associate Professor of Environmental Studies, UC Santa Cruz
Professor Fairbairn’s area of expertise is in the financialization of land and sociology of agriculture. Her research interests include qualitative sociological research on the political economy of the global agri-food system. She is the author of Fields of Gold: Financing the Global Land Rush. Fairbairn presented a draft paper on institutional investors buying farmland in the Delta region of Mississippi State and the ways in which this emerging trend may affect Black farmers in the region.
“I think that my biggest takeaway was on the malleability of property law and land/water governance generally. There are so many shades of grey in between private and common resources and between fully financialized and completely untouched by finance. This gives me a lot of hope that there are many small points of access for creating more just rural futures.”
Research Social Scientist, USDA Forest Service
Dr. Johnson Gaither’s current research focuses on ethnic perceptions of natural environment and outdoor recreation behavior and preferences for minority groups. Her interest areas also include social vulnerability and resource use. Her recent scholarship addresses sustainable mobility and wild food gathering in Atlanta communities. In collaboration with Betsy Taylor, Gaither gave a presentation on land ownership in central Appalachia entitled Energy Transitions & the First West: Decolonizing the Histories of Appalachia’s Emerging Futures.
“It was a great way to exchange ideas and receive input and feedback that is deep.”
Attorney, King-Ries LLP
Attorney King-Ries’s legal practice centers on community land trusts (CLTs) and other shared equity and farming models. She represents CLTs on legal matters such as ground lease review, real estate agreements, and nonprofit governance. Her areas of interest include shared equity, real property ownership, and farming commons. Her recent scholarship covers equity in homeownership, housing cooperatives, and creative ways to finance agriculture. At this event, King-Ries led discussion focused on her insights from her experience practicing in these spaces and how scholarship on rural land and water rights can be most helpful for legal practitioners.
“This workshop was so productive. The attendees were incredibly generous and well-informed.”
Professor of Law, Loyola University New Orleans
Professor Lovett’s teaching and scholarship focus on property law in common, civil, and mixed jurisdictions. Recent publications cover community land trusts, easements and change, and natural property rights. Lovett presented his work-in-progress paper on recreational access to watery, rural places in Louisiana, Running Water and Recreational Access in Louisiana: Crisis, Stalemate, or the Return of Public Things?.
“I learned many things at this meeting that will be invaluable for my research. The mix of scholars from different disciplines (law, history, geography, sociology and environmental science) gave me new insights to the subjects I study. The inclusion of practicing advocates and lawyers in this field also enriched the discussion and gave me new ideas for future research and provided new networks for collaboration.”
Postdoctoral Research Associate, Center for Resilience in Agricultural Working Landscapes, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Dr. Michaels’s area of interest includes grassland ecology, social-ecological resilience in working landscapes, and collaborative adaptive management. At the Center for Resilience, she is part of a team that embraces the diversity of backgrounds and insights needed to effectively address complex and dynamic challenges in agricultural landscapes. Michaels provided feedback on presented papers and social-ecological resilience resources and perspectives related to land and water.
“I absolutely loved this workshop. I really appreciated the transdisciplinary nature. I am so grateful and humbled by this influential scholarship that is trying to both provide avenues of change and new ways of thinking about our relationship to water and land, and each other. It really made me consider in new ways, not typical of my socio-ecological discipline, how the law influences ecology and things like land use history and rural-urban dynamics in particular.”
Senior Staff Attorney and Adjunct Professor, Center for Agriculture and Food Systems, Vermont Law and Graduate School
Professor Miller focuses on issues of farmland access, particularly for historically marginalized communities, and oversees the Farmland Access Legal Toolkit, which is hosted by the Center for Agriculture and Food Systems and helps farmers understand legal issues regarding accessing farmland. Miller also supervises students in Vermont Law’s Food and Agriculture Clinic and serves private clients in matters of collaborative and community land ownership and business formation. Miller helped lead conversations regarding reform potential and contributed expertise on heirs’ property and innovative models of land access.
“As a practitioner, it was great to get out of the day to day and have space to think bigger about the issues affecting the communities I’m trying to support every day.”
Director, Center for EmPowering Communities, Graham Sustainability Institute and Associate Professor of Practice, Urban and Regional Planning, University of Michigan
Dr. Mills researches at the intersection of energy policy and land use planning, especially in rural communities. Her work focuses on how state and local policies impact renewable energy deployment, the disparate reactions of rural landowners to wind and solar projects, and how renewable energy development impacts rural communities. Mills presented her upcoming work, Who hosts and benefits from utility-scale solar projects in the Great Lakes region?
“It was a great opportunity to help me figure out how renewable energy development patterns fit into the context of changing rural land ownership patterns. It stretched my brain to think about how place attachment and land ownership are intertwined. And it was great to meet other scholars who think deeply--and care deeply--about rural places and rural people.”
Postdoctoral Researcher, Department of Environmental Science, Policy, and Management, UC Berkeley
Dr. Petersen-Rockney researches agrarian change and climate equity. A political ecologist, Margiana's work
focuses on the impacts of climate change on rural agricultural communities, including how rural livelihoods and management practices in “working landscapes” are shifting, as well as the role of public agencies and local governments in responding to climate impacts. Petersen-Rockey shared an in-progress project titled Climate change, agricultural advisors, and tradeoffs of local control. This paper considers how local-level agricultural advisors are (or are not) working with farmers and ranchers on climate change and water scarcity, and the disparities and equity potential to shift technical and financial assistance to better support farmers most impacted by climate change.
“I had an amazing experience and still feel in awe of the incredible scholars I had the chance to meet and spend time with. I was also surprised (and learned so much!) by being in conversation with so many lawyers/legal scholars who are trained in such a different way with a distinct toolbox. It was amazing to think with and observe those with legal training as we discussed ideas and topics I care deeply about from such a different academic background. I hope to take away some of these different perspectives and professional connections.”
Professor of Law, University of Nebraska College of Law
Professor Schutz’s research interests include the often-intertwined subjects of agricultural law, environmental and natural resources law, and state and local government, all of which have significant impacts on rural landscapes and populations. Schutz discussed his work on South Platte River controversies.
Cultural Anthropologist and Founding Director, Livelihoods Knowledge Exchange Network
Dr. Taylor has worked extensively with community-driven development in Appalachia and South Asia to integrate issues of health, agriculture, forestry, culture and environmental stewardship. Her scholarship covers environmental and social justice movements, democratic planning and participatory research, and women’s issues. In collaboration with Cassandra Johnson Gaither, Taylor gave a presentation on land ownership in central Appalachia entitled Energy Transitions & the First West: Decolonizing the Histories of Appalachia’s Emerging Futures.
Assistant Professor, Chicago-Kent College of Law
Professor Tierney’s research focuses on how law shapes the way that ordinary people and financial markets interact with each other. He also specializes in the regulation of broker-dealers, investment advisers, and self-regulatory organizations such as stock exchanges. Tierney presented Financializing Farmland, a draft project co-authored with Professor Jessica Shoemaker on financial regulation and farmland investment.
Assistant Professor, School of Integrative Studies, George Mason University
Professor Van Sant’s work focuses on environmental (in)justice, with attention to questions of food, agriculture, and land use. His research analyzes specific areas of land use policy, such as conservation easements, as well as broader methodological and theoretical questions about the politics of land ownership in the U.S. Van Sant presented the first draft of his paper Land Claims: Ownership and Class Dynamics in the Shenandoah Valley, which uses empirical research on land ownership patterns in the Shenandoah Valley to theorize the various class fractions of landowners in the rural US more broadly.
“I think the main thing that I gained is a better appreciation for the variety of ways that lawyers and legal scholars approach their work, and hopefully this will help me engage more constructively around policy issues in the future.”
Sabrina Ehmke Sergeant
Legal Assistant, University of Nebraska College of Law
The Rural Reconciliation Project’s managing editor of the Rural Review, Sabrina Ehmke Sergeant, also joined participants in roundtable discussions.
In addition to these in-person participants, we were grateful for virtual engagement during some of the roundtable discussions from Kelly Kay, Assistant Professor, Department of Geography, Institute of the Environment and Sustainability, UCLA, as well as other interested scholars and practitioners.
The Project gratefully acknowledges funding support from the Carnegie Corporation of New York. The statements made and views expressed are solely the responsibility of the authors and presenters.