Ukraine

Greg Mason, from the Queensland Department of Primary Industries, says countries and regions facing 'peak water' like China, India and the Arab states are looking to solve food shortages by growing crops in places like the Ukraine and Australia.

An investor analysis of the case for buying up farmland

As world population expands, the demand for arable land should soar. At least that's what George Soros, Lord Rothschild, and other investors believe.

Pergam: "J’ai débuté mes achats de terres en 2005, en les étalant sur une période de deux ans jusqu’en 2007. La majorité des terres acquises se situe en Uruguay (35 000 hectares dont 40 % sont consacrés à la culture et 60 % à l’élevage) et les autres, en Argentine, soit 10 000 hectares. J’ai effectué ses achats au travers de la société argentine Campos orientales, l’un des plus gros propriétaires terriens du pays. La plus value latente est de l’ordre de 30 % en deux ans."

Tymoshenko is pushing through with promises to provide Libya 100,000 ha of Ukrainian farmland to produce its own wheat

"Il n'y a pas de liberté pour une société qui mange au-delà de ses frontières". Le colonel Kadhafi applique à la lettre ce principe du Livre vert.

Not a day goes by without new acreage being signed over. "For Sale" ads for agricultural property are now featured in the international financial press. And there's no dearth of clients.

"Je crois que les tensions seront inévitables où que ce soit, faisant des enclaves agricoles étrangères de véritables forteresses assiégées."

With food prices rising across the globe, adventurous foreign investors can find excellent business opportunities in Ukrainian agricultural sector despite (or perhaps due to?) the global economic crisis.

While other property markets crumbled last year, global farmland values initially kept rising. But recently that resilience has been tested. Andrew Shirley investigates whether agriculture is still a good investment.

“We have a land fund in South America, we have in Ukraine. Now we are developing one in Africa. We need to acquire land for farming,” says Guy de Montule, Louis Dreyfus’ chief executive officer for Middle East and Africa

Saudi Arabia and the UAE are worldwide leaders in buying farmland in third-party countries, followed by China and Japan, says the World Bank.