Major pension fund invests in farm land
- FT
- 10 October 2011
Roger Ferguson, chief executive of TIAA-CREF, says his firm is increasingly acquiring farmland in the US, Eastern Europe, Australia and Brazil as long term investments.
Roger Ferguson, chief executive of TIAA-CREF, says his firm is increasingly acquiring farmland in the US, Eastern Europe, Australia and Brazil as long term investments.
Farmland investments may return 8 percent to 12 percent annually as global food demand increases, said the largest US pensions manager for teachers and academic researchers with $469 billion of assets.
Synthesis report from the World Agriculture Investment Conference, London, UK, 4-5 October.
Foreign-investor purchases of farmland in poorer nations are displacing local populations and adding little to a country’s wealth, even as agricultural prices increase, according to Oxfam International.
Farmland is an increasingly attractive investment for pension funds, but some have held back from buying due to ethical and environmental concerns, and a fear of negative public perception.
A group of institutional investors representing US$1.3 trillion in assets have today launched the Principles for Responsible Investment in Farmland (the “Farmland Principles”).
Summary report of the conference hosted June 17, 2011 in Geneva, Switzerland
Australians do realise the value of what is being sold, a land agent and rural property specialist said, "but their hands are tied because they can't raise the money".
Les fonds de pension sont peut-être l’une des rares catégories d’accapareurs de terres auxquelles les gens peuvent couper l’herbe sous le pied, pour la bonne et simple raison que c’est de leur argent qu’il s’agit.
Los fondos de pensiones pueden ser uno de los pocos tipos de acaparadores de tierras que los trabajadores pueden desbaratar, por el sólo hecho que ellos son los dueños del dinero
Japanese translation of article of GRAIN, "Pension funds: key players in the global farmland grab"
Pension funds may be one of the few classes of land grabbers that people can pull the plug on, by sheer virtue of the fact that it is their money.
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