Since the non-governmental organization GRAIN called attention to a global land grab in the year 2008, the rise in global land deals and the internationalization of land tenancy have also caused intensive scientific interest. However, most of the land grabbing literature focused on negative social consequences for the local population. In this paper I will examine the opposite side by focusing on the investors. In the center of interest is the expansion of agribusiness, which is considered to be the main factor for land grabbing. In the context of the current land rush it is remarkable that actors of the ‘Global South’ play an increasingly important role. This is also the case in the sector of the agribusiness, where big agribusiness enterprises emerged, which have access to large-scale land areas and are eager to increase their land control, not only nationally but also in foreign countries. An illustrative example is Brazil where the agribusiness gained significant importance (especially in the Brazilian cerrado) over the last decades. Through this development big Brazilian companies appeared which are now increasingly contributing to the current land rush, often with support of the government.
The aim of this paper is to give a general overview about the importance of actors of the Global South in the context of the current land rush. Drawing from the Brazilian case, I will depict the evolution of the agribusiness sector in Brazil and the new trans- and international relations arising on the basis of the expansion of the agribusiness model.
