US

Event aims to support “win-win” arrangements whereby investors and host countries can both benefit from international investment, supporting national or regional food security aims.

Macquarie Agricultural Funds Management has started up the Macquarie Crop Fund to "acquire or lease grain and oilseed properties located in geographically diverse regions of Australia and Brazil".

Investors are growing more bullish on U.S. farmland as softness in some sectors spurs increased competition for buying quality acres. Capital flow is increasing from overseas, in particular from Europe, Asia and the Middle East.

US government cable discusses 24 January 2010 meeting organised by Swiss Development Corporation, UN Food and Agriculture Organization and International Fund for Agricultural Investment on "Land, Investment, and Development," attended by many of the key players working on responsible international agro-industrial and land investment principles

US government mission in Rome discusses FAO's work to develop principles for international farmland "investments"

US government mission in Riyadh writes, "Although the idea of Saudi farms in Africa may sound farfetched, the Kingdom has for years hired foreign managers and laborers to administer its farms and other agribusinesses (e.g., most Saudi wheat farms currently have Egyptian managers)."

A top-level Qatar National Food Security Programme (QNFSP) delegation, led by QNFSP chairman Fahd al Attiyah, will visit agricultural research institutes and meet senior US Government officials, including from the White House, the State Department, the Department of Agriculture and the Department of Energy during its week-long US programme.

Der Spiegel video on Dominion Farms in Kenya and a Chinese farm project in Tanzania. Auf Deutsch.

A veteran American hedge-fund manager has launched a $100m fund to invest in American farmland as fears of food inflation grow.

"Hassad [Food] has innovated by considering investments in overseas agribusinesses rather than only purchasing land in countries with questionable property rights, and where the indigenous population may not benefit from such purchases," writes the US embassy in Doha

US embassy in Kuwait reports on discussions with Kuwaiti officials on acquiring farmland overseas for food security or profit

"This apparent rush to lease so much farmland, much or all of it to foreign interests, during a time of worsening food insecurity should raise concern within the donor community about GoE motivations and negotiating capacity," writes the US embassy in Addis Ababa in December 2009