Jessica A. Shoemaker
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jessicashoemaker.bsky.social
Jessica A. Shoemaker
@jessicashoemaker.bsky.social
6.3K followers 690 following 150 posts
Law Prof | Fulbright Scholar | Carnegie Fellow
Property Law, Land Tenure, Rural People and Places
Research: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/cf_dev/AbsByAuth.cfm?per_id=670021
Engagement: https://www.ruralreconcile.org/
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jessicashoemaker.bsky.social
Jessica A. Shoemaker @jessicashoemaker.bsky.social · Apr 9
As markets churn and world orders reset, @jamesftierney.bsky.social and I have a new piece forthcoming in Yale Law Journal that couldn't be more timely. "Trading Acres" traces the risks of farmland financialization and analyzes the role of law in this ongoing rural land grab. 🧵
Abstract - Trading Acres - forthcoming Yale Law Journal - Jessica A Shoemaker and James Fallows Tierney - Farms are places where people live their lives, sustain their families, and produce food and fiber for the wider community. And now, farms are assets swept up into global financial channels—converting before our eyes from repositories of the best of our agrarian ideals into paper playthings for the very rich. This asset-class-ification of farmland echoes patterns of financialization occurring across other elements of our daily lives, including housing, and compounds wider crises of concentration and industrialization in agriculture. But as an active land grab unfolds across rural America, farmland’s recent capture by absentee investors is particularly concerning. Farmland’s conversion to asset class threatens rural livelihoods, agriculture and food system resilience, and economic and spatial justice. In this article, we argue that Wall Street’s arrival at rural America’s gate is not merely a market trend but rather the product of deep social choices governing the accumulation of investor wealth: property, corporate, and securities law. We explore the ways in which these deep structures of our legal system—from the primacy of market logics to a range of biases that skew our spatial, temporal, and social relations—constitute the conditions for this profound transformation in the way farmland, as a basic and essential rural resource, is being integrated into the modern capital economy. Together, business and property law create the conditions for land concentration, rural depopulation, environmental degradation, and labor exploitation. Today’s rural land grab is meeting little resistance. But historically, investor-owned farmland was seen as a deep and politically-motivating threat to rural life. We situate past reform attempts to rein in financialized farmland and conclude that many attempts failed because modest doctrinal interventions result in playing shell gam…
Reposted by Jessica A. Shoemaker
unlcollegeoflaw.bsky.social
Prof. Shoemaker published (with former Nebraska Law professor @jamesftierney.bsky.social) "Absentee Ownership and the Berle-Means Firm," in the peer-reviewed Journal of European Economic History. Read more ›› buff.ly/YwyAuoa #NELaw
October 27, 2025 at 5:15 PM
Reposted by Jessica A. Shoemaker
rural-reconcile.bsky.social
What happens when farmland becomes just another financial asset?
Our latest digest shares recent work by Project co-creator(!) @jessicashoemaker.bsky.social and
@jamesftierney.bsky.social on the possibilities and limitations of regulatory responses.
Shoemaker & Tierney: Trading Acres — The Rural Reconciliation Project
In Trading Acres , Je ssica A. Shoem aker (Law, University of Nebraska-Lincoln) and James Fallows Tierney (Law, Illinois Institute of Technology) address the growing trend of financialization o...
www.ruralreconcile.org
October 28, 2025 at 9:19 PM
Reposted by Jessica A. Shoemaker
rural-reconcile.bsky.social
Our October Roundup highlights scholarship ranging from public views on aquaculture to political polarization within rural communities, shares a podcast rec on telehealth and broadband, news on farm incomes, arts orgs, and more:
Roundup: October 10, 2025 — The Rural Reconciliation Project
A periodic collection of recent research, analysis, and other notable rural items.
www.ruralreconcile.org
October 14, 2025 at 4:01 PM
Reposted by Jessica A. Shoemaker
rural-reconcile.bsky.social
📢 New commentary!
We're thrilled to feature a guest piece by Ann M. Eisenberg on how long-ignored economic and policy shifts shaped political realignment and why rural discontent matters.
Check it out here: www.ruralreconcile.org/ruralreview/...
Why Aren’t We Talking About Rural Voters Anymore? — The Rural Reconciliation Project
If you pay attention to public discourse about rural populations, you might have noticed something missing in the aftermath of the 2024 presidential election: think-pieces on rural voter s. These th...
www.ruralreconcile.org
July 29, 2025 at 5:08 PM
Reposted by Jessica A. Shoemaker
andrewkjennings.com
Why does it matter who owns America's farms?

@jessicashoemaker.bsky.social (@unlcollegeoflaw.bsky.social) and @jamesftierney.bsky.social (@chicagokentlaw.bsky.social) join @busscholarship.bsky.social to discuss their article "Trading Acres." 1/2
Business Scholarship Podcast - Ep.254 – Jessica Shoemaker and James Tierney on Financializing...
YouTube video by Business Scholarship Podcast
youtu.be
August 5, 2025 at 3:53 PM
jessicashoemaker.bsky.social
Also, Nebraska is beautiful.
jessicashoemaker.bsky.social Jessica A. Shoemaker @jessicashoemaker.bsky.social · Jul 27
10/10 - writing about land while on the land. Interdisciplinary biological stations forever.
Sunset across the high plains.
July 29, 2025 at 2:23 PM
jessicashoemaker.bsky.social
10/10 - writing about land while on the land. Interdisciplinary biological stations forever.
Sunset across the high plains.
July 27, 2025 at 12:07 PM
Reposted by Jessica A. Shoemaker
rural-reconcile.bsky.social
Check out our digest of ‪@fhisey.bsky.social‬, Melissa Heppner, and Andrea Olive’s qualitative study on how social acceptance and material resources complicate the return of bison to the Canadian plains. Read more on how land, animals, and history intersect:
Hisey et al.: Fears and Fences: Bison on the Canadian Prairies — The Rural Reconciliation Project
In Fears and Fences: Social and Material Barriers to Plains Bison on the Canadian Prairies , auth ors Forrest Hisey, Melissa Heppner (both Geography, Geomatics, and Environment, Univers ity of Toro...
www.ruralreconcile.org
June 12, 2025 at 10:22 PM
Reposted by Jessica A. Shoemaker
rural-reconcile.bsky.social
Our digest of Elizabeth Kronk Warner and Jesús A. Salazar's article on shared stewardship shares their insights on the role of tribal governments in the management of U.S. public lands and identifies opportunities for future collaboration.
Warner and Salazar: Shared Stewardship — The Rural Reconciliation Project
In Shared Stewardship, El izabeth Kronk Warne r and Jesús A. Salazar (Both Law, University of Utah) challenge the trend of excluding tribes from participation of co-stewardship of national lands...
www.ruralreconcile.org
June 4, 2025 at 2:41 PM
jessicashoemaker.bsky.social
I'm not sure any article I've ever written has caused more reader feelings than this one... "Trading Acres" with the fabulous @jamesftierney.bsky.social now live on SSRN and forthcoming in YLJ. Feel free to share your feelings too! papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
Trading Acres
Farms are places where people live their lives, sustain their families, and produce food and fiber for the wider community. And now, farms are assets swept up i
papers.ssrn.com
May 27, 2025 at 6:56 PM
jessicashoemaker.bsky.social
When everything is hard, at least we can host a workshop that promises really good swag and a lovely, supportive community. Join us, online this Fall! www.ruralreconcile.org/programs/fal...
Law & Rurality Workshop (handdrawn logo with a coffee cup with Rural Reconciliation Project logo) - Hosted Online - Fall 2025
May 21, 2025 at 3:44 PM
Reposted by Jessica A. Shoemaker
rural-reconcile.bsky.social
How might we understand the place-based policy efforts of the Biden administration? Our digest on
@gretegans.bsky.social‬'s taxonomy of ‘Bidenomics’ classifies 4 major policy types targeting regional inequality and is a great place to start:
Gansauer: A Taxonomy of ‘Bidenomics’ — The Rural Reconciliation Project
In For Growth or Equity: A Taxonomy of ‘Bidenomics’ Place-Based Policies and Implications for US Regional Inequality , Gret e Gansauer (Earth Sciences, Montana State University) develops a new taxo...
www.ruralreconcile.org
May 19, 2025 at 3:45 PM
jessicashoemaker.bsky.social
These replies are what I needed today.
May 15, 2025 at 1:29 PM
jessicashoemaker.bsky.social
This literally just changed my life.
chronicleflask.katday.com Dr Kat Day (she/her) @chronicleflask.katday.com · Apr 25
This is your occasional reminder that typing “-ai” before your search term is pretty effective at preventing the often-inaccurate Ai summaries

(Yes, I know there are other ways: this is the quickest and easiest to remember)
April 25, 2025 at 12:32 PM
jessicashoemaker.bsky.social
As markets churn and world orders reset, @jamesftierney.bsky.social and I have a new piece forthcoming in Yale Law Journal that couldn't be more timely. "Trading Acres" traces the risks of farmland financialization and analyzes the role of law in this ongoing rural land grab. 🧵
Abstract - Trading Acres - forthcoming Yale Law Journal - Jessica A Shoemaker and James Fallows Tierney - Farms are places where people live their lives, sustain their families, and produce food and fiber for the wider community. And now, farms are assets swept up into global financial channels—converting before our eyes from repositories of the best of our agrarian ideals into paper playthings for the very rich. This asset-class-ification of farmland echoes patterns of financialization occurring across other elements of our daily lives, including housing, and compounds wider crises of concentration and industrialization in agriculture. But as an active land grab unfolds across rural America, farmland’s recent capture by absentee investors is particularly concerning. Farmland’s conversion to asset class threatens rural livelihoods, agriculture and food system resilience, and economic and spatial justice. In this article, we argue that Wall Street’s arrival at rural America’s gate is not merely a market trend but rather the product of deep social choices governing the accumulation of investor wealth: property, corporate, and securities law. We explore the ways in which these deep structures of our legal system—from the primacy of market logics to a range of biases that skew our spatial, temporal, and social relations—constitute the conditions for this profound transformation in the way farmland, as a basic and essential rural resource, is being integrated into the modern capital economy. Together, business and property law create the conditions for land concentration, rural depopulation, environmental degradation, and labor exploitation. Today’s rural land grab is meeting little resistance. But historically, investor-owned farmland was seen as a deep and politically-motivating threat to rural life. We situate past reform attempts to rein in financialized farmland and conclude that many attempts failed because modest doctrinal interventions result in playing shell gam…
April 9, 2025 at 3:40 PM
Reposted by Jessica A. Shoemaker
rural-reconcile.bsky.social
Our newest digest highlights the work of Loka Ashwood, Aimee Imlay, Lindsay Kuehn, Allen Franco, and Danielle Diamond, offering the first analysis and guide to the right-to-farm laws that have been adopted by states across the country over the last 50 years.
Ashwood et al.: Empty Fields, Empty Promises — The Rural Reconciliation Project
In Empty Fields, Empty Promises: A State-by-State Guide to Understanding and Transforming the Right to Farm , Loka Ashwood (University of Kentucky, Sociology), Aimee Imlay (Mississippi State Univers...
www.ruralreconcile.org
March 27, 2025 at 3:24 PM
jessicashoemaker.bsky.social
Let's just say there are a lot of really important and smart people coming for this symposium, and I'm not sure at all that I should be highlighted on this flyer like this... but I am super grateful for the chance to attend at all and to learn and engage in these conversations soon.
March 26, 2025 at 8:47 PM
Reposted by Jessica A. Shoemaker
rural-reconcile.bsky.social
Our March roundup highlights research on public health resilience, placed-based policies (by @gretegans.bsky.social), and the right to food, in addition to sharing recent news, an upcoming "Shaping the Future of Food" webinar from @iatp.bsky.social, and a podcast rec.
Roundup: March 18, 2025 — The Rural Reconciliation Project
A periodic collection of recent research, analysis, and other notable rural items.
www.ruralreconcile.org
March 18, 2025 at 6:41 PM
jessicashoemaker.bsky.social
Picking up a cookie cake for this week’s property catch-up session, and I fear my students are going to think I’m telling them they are in the dog house. 😭😭😭
March 7, 2025 at 3:26 PM
jessicashoemaker.bsky.social
Rescheduled! Due to winter weather conditions in Nebraska, we are moving this play reading and discussion back one week, to March 11. Details here: www.ruralreconcile.org/ruralreview/... @rural-reconcile.bsky.social
Rescheduled! - Eminent Domain: After the Pipeline — The Rural Reconciliation Project
Join the Rural Reconciliation Project and friends for a discussion of rural futures on March 11, 2025, inspired by an upcoming premier of the Angels Theatre Company’s new play, Eminent Domain.
www.ruralreconcile.org
March 4, 2025 at 4:42 PM
jessicashoemaker.bsky.social
One of my favorite teaching days in property.
March 3, 2025 at 6:56 PM
jessicashoemaker.bsky.social
Looking forward to being at Yale School of the Environment later this week for this cool event. Excited to tell - and hear - some new stories about land.
Abundant Narratives on Land & Indigeneity event flyer for Property & Equitable Land Reform and Intersectional Indigeneity panels on 2/27 and 2/28 at Yale School of the Environment.
February 24, 2025 at 3:26 PM
jessicashoemaker.bsky.social
Trying a new property office hour technique today - Cookies and Catching Up. But the cookies are fudge oatmeal bars (made by my daughter!), and the catching up may be not property-related. Times are hard. We're doing our best.
February 21, 2025 at 4:25 PM
Reposted by Jessica A. Shoemaker
unlcollegeoflaw.bsky.social
Professor Jessica Shoemaker's (@jessicashoemaker.bsky.social) article, Re-Placing Property, was reviewed by Yael Lifshitz, senior lecturer in Property Law at The Dickson Poon School of Law, King's College London, in JOTWELL: The Journal of Things We Like (Lots).

Read on ›› https://buff.ly/4gBm5z7.
Shoemaker’s article reviewed in JOTWELL | College of Law | Nebraska
Professor Jessica Shoemaker's article, Re-Placing Property, was reviewed by Yael Lifshitz, senior lecturer in Property Law at The Dickson Poon School of Law, King's College London, in JOTWELL: The…
buff.ly
February 20, 2025 at 3:20 PM
Reposted by Jessica A. Shoemaker
rural-reconcile.bsky.social
Excited to share our latest digest featuring recent work by our very own Project Director @jessicashoemaker.bsky.social this week! Read about the relationship between property law and human placemaking and how a clearer language can help sort out what is at stake. #rural
Shoemaker: Re-Placing Property — The Rural Reconciliation Project
In Re-Placing Property , Jessica A. Shoemaker (Nebraska Law) explores how property law shapes our attachments to place and considers the consequences of the property system prioritizing the first p...
www.ruralreconcile.org
February 6, 2025 at 7:23 PM