Land reform in the United States: Lost cause or simply a cause that has been lost?

Abstract

In this commentary, I consider the topic of “land reform” in the United States, addressing the status of land reform as a key concept and goal among agrifood scholars, food/farm movements, and government actors. I do so in order to encourage sustainable food advocates to consider land reform’s importance, its social basis, and its challenges. Informed by secondary literature and my own thinking and doing over 20 years of food systems activism and research, I ask: Why isn’t land reform more prominent as a central objective? What dynamics keep land reform off the agenda of U.S. agrarian and food movements? What can previous histories of land reform agitation teach us? How can the elements necessary to advance toward land reform in the United States be built? I explore land reform’s lack with an eye especially to those explanations that open up potential avenues for action, in order to spark conversation on potential barriers to land reform efforts, and to suggest potential ways to overcome them. I discuss political-economic, ideological, and organizational barriers and emphasize the role of anticommunism in shaping today’s land politics among food and farming movements. It is hoped that the commentary offers researchers and practitioners actionable insights into the need for a land reform agenda, potential strategies toward a land reform agenda, and an honest assessment of the impediments to that agenda’s advance.