An EU audit found that the Czech Republic's former prime minister, the billionaire Andrej Babiš, had improperly kept control of his food and farming conglomerate Agrofert while in office.
The European People’s Party has proposed an EU law to prevent oligarchs and land-grabbers drawing on EU subsidies at the expense of small and medium-sized farming businesses.
The European Union spends $65 billion a year subsidizing agriculture. But a chunk of that money emboldens strongmen, enriches politicians and finances corrupt dealing and land grabs.
US private equity firm Paine & Partners expanded its farm and agribusiness holdings on Wednesday with the acquisition of a leading European Union agricultural producer, Spearhead International Ltd, for an undisclosed amount.
More than 9,400 hectares of Amazonian rainforest has been removed for two oil palm plantations in the Peruvian region of Ucayali linked to Czech entrepreneur Dennis Melka.
Český fond půdy hopes to make 2,000 individual land acquisitions a year.
Farmland ranked as the most attractive investment in a survey of 197 Czech and Slovak millionaires.
The six case studies compiled in this report illustrate the wide range of approaches and focus that private funds are adopting (legal structure, geography, agricultural production and operating strategies) to invest in farmland in different parts of the world.
Report by HighQuest Partners for the OECD, October 2011, features 6 case studies of land grabbers: Agrica, CalyxAgro, Cazanae, Jantzen, NFD Agro and Quifel
The government has an estimated 147,000 hectares of land (or 3.5% of the country's agricultural land) prepped for sale, following regulations passed on 13 July 2011
PPF entry into Russian farming via Rav Agro-Pro acquisition affirms Czech billionaire Petr Kellner’s confidence in his position there
Agricultural groups have opposed the cabinet's decision to remove the barrier on farm land purchases, arguing that Czech farmers will be priced out.
