Australia

A new $3 billion fund jointly initiated by the Beijing Agricultural Investment Fund and Yuhu Agriculture Investment Pty Ltd. is planning to invest $3 billion capital in various projects in Australia.

Thousands of miles from pricey U.S. farmland, a Michigan pension fund is expanding its investments in Australian farms, betting on good returns from the comparatively cheaper assets and surging commodity prices.

Close 60 per cent of ­farmers in a major new survey still believe there should be less foreign direct investment in Australian farms.

A Scandanavian pension fund has poured $20 million into Australian dairy farms to help lift stagnant local milk production.

More than half the guest list for the inaugural Australian Dairy Farm Investment Forum in Melbourne next month are ­corporate or Chinese investors seeking to be matched with advisory groups to find dairy land investments.

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.