Australia

US pension fund manager TIAA-CREF, under pressure to put cash to work after having raised $2bn for TIAA-CREF Global Agriculture, agreed to purchase 12,528 ha of farmland in Florida.

A US pension fund investor that flies under the radar has continued its spending spree on quality agricultural land in WA with the purchase of two farms in Grass Patch for about $9 million.

Russian agribusiness giant Prodimex is said to have bought 27% of Stockholm-listed farmland operator Agrokultura, which has operations in Ukraine and Russia.

A new survey reports that foreign ownership of Australian farmland grew by 4.7 million hectares in just two-and-a-half years.

Over the past few years Hassad Australia has amassed a property portfolio of 14 major wheat and sheep farms or clusters of properties across four states, covering 287,000ha.

UBS Global Asset Management has established an Australia and New Zealand farmland investment advisory service to meet the growing institutional demand for assets, particularly from Asia.

Lawson Grains controls more than 42,000 hectares of prime cropping country in Australia.

Tim Hornibrook, head of Macquarie Agricultural Funds Management, obtained sensitive details about a competitor's profits, fee structure and returns by posing as a wealthy investor.

"The institutional ‘herd’ will eventually find agricultural investment,' delegates told at the Global AgInvesting Conference in New York.

“We can have a nice debate about foreign investment here in Australia, but in the global context it isn’t a discussion about whether it is nice to have, we need it, we absolutely need it.”

Elle accuse ces établissements de financer des sociétés impliquées dans des spoliations foncières, des exploitations forestières illégales et le travail des enfants.

Australia’s big four banks are backing companies accused of kicking people off their land, leaving them homeless and hungry.