Financial subjectivities in the agricultural sector: a comparative analysis of relations between farmers and banks in Latvia, Denmark and the UK

Grivins, Mikelis, Thorsoe, Martin and Maye, Damian ORCID: 0000-0002-4459-6630 (2021) Financial subjectivities in the agricultural sector: a comparative analysis of relations between farmers and banks in Latvia, Denmark and the UK. Journal of Rural Studies, 86. pp. 117-126. doi:10.1016/j.jrurstud.2021.06.006

Preview

Text (Peer-reviewed version) 9802-Maye-(2021)-Financial-subjectivities-in-the-agricultural-sector.pdf - Accepted Version Available under License Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial No Derivatives 4.0. Download (413kB) | Preview

Abstract

Access to financing is crucial for farmers to ensure competitiveness and to facilitate change. A better understanding of how farmers can access funds could help farmers to remain profitable and to adopt more sustainable farming practices. However, most of the academic literature discussing agricultural financing depicts farmers’ access to funds as impersonal and universal – emerging from the idea of “optimal financial behaviour”. This paper takes a different approach and introduces the concept of “financial subjectivities” to show how financial markets are constructed as locally embedded reinterpretations of the financialisation of agriculture that guide local agro-financial relations. We examine financial subjectivities in Latvia, Denmark and the UK respectively to understand how stakeholders co-constitute contextually embedded relations between farmers and banks and to assess processes of agro-financial relations in specific national contexts. The cases illustrate different relationships between banks and farms. In Latvia, agricultural crediting has developed comparatively recently and is heavily supported by government intervention; in Denmark, agriculture has undergone a period of financial crisis, and farmers are struggling to refinance and remain profitable; meanwhile, in the UK, relations between farmers and banks are well established but increasingly strained as agricultural producer returns on investment yield less profit. Each case thus reflects historical development trajectories and the regulatory engagement of agro-financial relations, asserting the importance of embedding analysis of agricultural financing in specific socio-political contexts.

Item Type:	Article
Article Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Agriculture; Banks; Agricultural financing; Financial subjectivities
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HG Finance > HG4001 Finance management. Business finance S Agriculture > S Agriculture (General) S Agriculture > S Agriculture (General) > S560 Farm Economics
Divisions:	Schools and Research Institutes > Countryside and Community Research Institute
Research Priority Areas:	Place, Environment and Community
Depositing User:	Ella Rowe
Date Deposited:	16 Jun 2021 13:30
Last Modified:	11 Jun 2023 04:15
URI:	https://eprints.glos.ac.uk/id/eprint/9802

University Staff: Request a correction | Repository Editors: Update this record