George Soros

Adecoagro SA, the South American farm venture backed by billionaire George Soros, pulled out of a project to build a dam and grow rice in Argentina after the government said the development may harm the environment.

The traditional asset play on agriculture by Wall Street -- farmland -- has pushed to dizzying heights.

Su firma Adecoagro sumó un campo en Santiago

Adecoagro, one of the leading agricultural companies in South America, announced today that it has acquired Compania Agroforestal de Servicios y Mandatos, a company which owns a 4,960 hectare farm named "El Colorado", located in the region of Bandera, in the province of Santiago del Estero, Argentina, for a total price of US$18.0 million

Farmland and forestry will outperform the average of all global assets long-term, according to Jeremy Grantham, chief investment strategist for Boston-based Grantham, Mayo, Van Otterloo & Co.

Investors are pouring into farmland in the US and parts of Europe, Latin America and Africa as global food prices soar.

Uruguay's president said on Wednesday he wanted to raise taxes on the country's biggest landowners -- including Argentine-based agricultural company El Tejar and George Soros's Adecoagro -- to boost the state's share of bumper farming and forestry sector profits

Investing in Adecoagro is “a way to play the potential global shortage of food, especially in emerging markets,” says Francis Gaskins, president of IPOdesktop.com

Adecoagro SA, a farmland venture in South America that’s backed by billionaire George Soros, plans to raise as much as $429 million in an initial public offering in the US as food prices surge.

Profit-hungry investors hope to avoid the stigma and opposition associated with land grabbing by partnering with local business development groups.

“It’s not common in Brazil to find farmers presenting accounts to international investors. What you can see here is the new model for agribusiness in Brazil,” says André Pessôa, co-ordinator of the Rally da Safra.

Billionaire George Soros’s Adecoagro venture, which invests in agriculture and renewable energy in Latin America, is considering an initial public offering to help fund projects in Brazil that include a $700 million sugar mill.