US

US giant TIAA's Westchester has purchased a major part of northern NSW cropping farm Milton Downs from Australia's biggest wheat grower Greentree Farming for a figure some estimate to be in the vicinity of $50 million.

Cables obtained by the non-profit Oakland Institute through a Freedom of Information Act request reveal that U.S. government officials pushed Cameroon to approve a deeply controversial oil palm development owned by Herakles Farms.

GFF seeks to acquire farmland in regions where land is undervalued relative to production value and will make its first investments in acquiring farms in the southeastern U.S.

Friends of the Earth warns investors they could be unknowingly contributing to deforestation and land grabs, and calls on them to show leadership

"The results are a strong message that the people don't want corporate farming in North Dakota."

Wall Street remains enamored with US and international farmland, speakers at a Farm Foundation meeting in Louisville said last week.

Starting in 1932, North Dakota law barred nonfamily corporations from owning farmland or operating farms. But that changed in March of last year when the state Legislature passed a bill that would relax the corporate farming ban and Gov. Jack Dalrymple signed it into law.

Australian agricultural assets remain a major a drawcard for international investors with a string of mainly US-based investors funnelling hundreds of millions into a $1 billion fund established by the Queensland agribusiness investment firm, Laguna Bay Pastoral Company.

Real estate agent says with commodity prices down, institutional investors who had been investing in farmland in the Midwest are turning their attention to places like Florida, and sees upswing in investment from Latin America.

La compra de tierras agrícolas en África o Asia resultó un negocio decepcionante y los inversores miran ahora hacia países ricos como Australia, Francia o Estados Unidos.

Institutional investors want access to farmland in Latin America, but they want it through a Delaware entity that can leap all of the local financial logistics.

Farm Foundation, NFP, along with USDA’s Economic Research Service and Bank of America Merrill Lynch host a workshop on the implications of non-farmer investor interest in agricultural resources.