Australia

Australia's Trade Minister Craig Emerson says plans to increase scrutiny on farmland investments would ruin any chance at all of a free-trade deal being struck with China.

According to BlackRock world agriculture fund portfolio manager and director Desmond Cheung there is a "wall of money" that is looking to back the world's growing appetite for a stable and growing food supply.

Hassad Australia chief executive Tom McKeon said the company employed people from local communities, supported local businesses and paid tax. The company owns 11 farms over 250,000ha in Australia, including three in WA.

"The UAE is looking not just at land [acquisitions] but developing the whole supply chain," says Nicholas Lodge, managing partner at Clarity, a consultancy that advises on investments in agricultural industries.

Singapore-based Duxton Asset Management said it is in talks over planned investments in four Australian farms despite increasing scrutiny of farm purchases by foreigners.

Lakewood Asset Management is pleased to announce the launch of its latest agricultural asset project -- Australian Farmland in partnership with Agri Firma Capital of the UK.

The 16,000-hectare farm which Första AP-fonden bought in Australia in December was one of a clutch of purchases of farmland, worth some $100m, by the pension fund.

The Beidahuang Group has been dismayed by what it regards as negative media coverage of its investment in agricultural land in Australia and plans to scale back while it still purchases more farms.

There's been considerable disquiet over the presence of foreign buyers in the farmland market place, but the stats on the extent of foreign ownership and the emerging trends are far from clear.

Governments in a number of countries are trying to address concerns about land grabbing by closing their borders to foreign investors. Are these restrictions effective? Not really, says GRAIN.

There are renewed calls for tighter limits on foreign investment in agricultural land, with new figures showing 4.6 million hectares of Australian land is now owned by overseas interests.

A Qatari Government-owned company is buying up prime agricultural land in South Australia at well above market rates and is forcing farmers to sign confidentiality agreements.