Australia

The New Zealand Superannuation Fund, which has bought up 21 local dairy farms as part of its push into rural land investment, is looking outside the dairy sector for its next foray, eyeing land used for beef and permanent crops and expansion into Australia.

China’s investment in Australian agribusiness has tripled in just a year as China strives to meet rising demand for high-quality food among its growing middle class. Major agribusiness deals included acquisition of the S Kidman & Co cattle empire and acquisition of Tasmanian dairy giant Van Dieman’s Land.

A coalition of environmental, human rights and family farm organizations delivered a letter with over 100,000 signatures to pension fund management company TIAA, expressing concerns over the company’s investments in farmland and palm oil.

Protesters paid a visit to TIAA’s New York headquarters Thursday, urging the firm to stop investing in farmland and companies with ties to palm oil.

The ramifications of the land grab seven years ago, and the role of ANZ in financing the Phnom Penh Sugar (PPS) refinery, are still being felt today. Representative of victims are traveling to Melbourne to lobby ANZ's institutional investors for investigating their complaint against ANZ.

Chinese investment in Australian agriculture is usually a magnet for controversy, but one Chinese company has remained immune from criticism, with plans to invest $1 billion by the end of the decade.

Now and into 2017 agribusiness is being promoted as the next big thing, with increasing market activity, resulting in land and asset values accelerating at a greater rate towards a peak as local and international demand increases.

Canadian investors - particularly pension funds - have led the way in changing Australian city money attitudes to agriculture.

Al Dahra Agriculture says deal will give it access to a strategic growers and suppliers base, in addition to farming land in Western Australia

The notorious reluctance of Australian superannuation funds to invest in agriculture because of perceptions it is too risky, volatile and low-return may be slowly changing, according to key farm and food industry players.

The amount of agricultural land owned by Chinese interests has soared above 3 million hectares, more than double the 1.46 million declared by the Australian Taxation Office last month, according to a Fairfax Media analysis of reported land sales.

Joe Lewis, the owner of football team Tottenham Hotspur, is the ultimate owner of the AA Trust, which has just converted 59 of 160 Convertible Notes into fully paid ordinary shares in AACo.