ABSTRACT Global food security challenges give rise to contentious debates. Conventional approaches to agricultural development call for capital-intensive industrial-scale farming to increase global productivity. Sub-Saharan Africa is the main target for agro-industrial farmland investments. Critical scholars oppose these trends in the region, arguing that the large-scale farming model causes a devastating loss of land resources and harms rural livelihoods. Critical development scholars and critical globalization scholars generally intersect in their candid rejection of global capitalism and the commodification of agri-food resources. This paper adds to existing critiques by advancing a governance approach. In reviewing case study evidence from eight countries, it highlights the crucial role of governments, who ultimately wield sovereign authority to regulate the agricultural sector. This analysis represents a fusion of critical development studies and critical globalization studies. Rather than rejecting the global capitalist system, it sheds light on the need for effective regulation and identifies key actors and policy areas.