Australia

Commodities trader Jim Rogers, known for his investment prowess alongside George Soros, is in Australia to launch a new rural land fund which is seeking to raise up to $350 million to buy farms in northern NSW

Western Australia announced it will make available 15,200 hectares of new irrigable farm land near Kununurra in the state's deep north, more than doubling the size of an existing irrigation area, with the government hoping to attract interest from foreign investors.

Two of the last big Australian-owned sugar mills, Maryborough and Proserpine, could soon be sold to foreign buyers in takeover deals worth more than $350 million.

Group's $700 million international crop fund has been dealt a serious blow with new foreign investment restrictions on rural property in Brazil stalling its expansion.

Aquila Capital Green Assets, part of the Aquila Group, is pleased to announce today that it has become an official signatory to the recently launched Principles for Responsible Investment in Farmland.

Elders has begun a sale of all its forestry plantations totalling 50,000ha across the country. Much of the land purchased is expected to be planted with sugar cane, bananas or returned to beef grazing, and COFCO and Wilmar International have indicated their interest.

More than 613,000 hectares of Australia's NSW's agricultural land is owned by UK-based investors, compared with 227,300 ha owned by Korean interests and 55,560 ha by US investors.

Hassad Food Company is keen to secure food supplies for Qatar at reasonable prices through local and international investments in various countries, according to an article in the Qatar Chamber of Commerce and Industry memorial book ‘40 Years of Excellence and Achievement.’

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.

It's become known as the global land grab. More and more wealthy countries are buying up agricultural land in the developing world in at attempt to hedge against high food prices.

Shadow minister for agriculture and food security, John Cobb, said it was concerning that in the past three years there had been a 10-fold increase in foreign investment in ownership and control of agricultural supply lines.