Episode 2: The Land Grab Chronicles
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Episode 2: The Land Grab Chronicles
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About this listen
Episode 2 of Fields of Power moves from the aisles of a Hungarian supermarket into the hidden machinery of a political-economic system where land, food, and power are tightly intertwined. Péter and Ian begin by tracing the products of powerful political-economic elites – Hungary's oligarchs – whose companies dominate everything from dairy to wine. But the question they pursue is bigger: how did land become the key to their power, and why does it matter for Hungary's future?
Episode 2: The Land Grab Chronicles
The episode shows how these elites used state-engineered land auctions to accumulate vast tracts of farmland, a process made highly profitable by EU subsidies that reward ownership rather than cultivation. Drawing on the investigations of former state secretary József Ángyán, it reveals how fields intended for family farmers were channelled instead to regime loyalists.
What emerges is more than a story about property: it's about how land grabbing undermines democracy, weakens food sovereignty, blocks climate-resilient farming, and shapes the future of Hungary and Hungarians.