Accumulation by Intermediation: The Contestation of Agro-Food Capital in the South African Maize Industry

Abstract

The power of agro-food capital is frequently highlighted, but its internal dynamics are under-researched. This paper contributes to the understanding of agro-food capital in agrarian political economy through an analysis of milling and storage activities that intermediate grain production and consumption in South Africa. The paper shows that these activities can provide important sources of income and optionality supporting diverse accumulation strategies by a range of big business interests. Our analysis highlights that agro-food capital may not always be a coherent set of interests that is distinct from, and acts upon, other fractions of capital in the agrarian political economy. Instead, it may come to be a contested space, used to support differing accumulation strategies pursued by actors with varying interests. Such contestation may produce complex amalgamations of agricultural, industrial, financial and trading capital and contribute to variegation in trajectories of agrarian change.