Farmland grabs by US companies and pension funds are being ignored as appropriators prioritise keeping Chinese interests in check, critics say

Brazil's lower house of Congress passed a land bill on Tuesday that is backed by the country's powerful farm sector but that environmentalists say will contribute to deforestation in the Amazon rainforest.

Agriculture, long overlooked as a handy defensive investment space by fund managers more interested in infrastructure, commercial real estate and shopping centres, has become the focus of big spending activity of late.

Global investment company Proterra Investment Partners is divesting its Australian farm portfolio – the Corinella Group Pty Ltd consisting of 49 farms across southeastern Australia with expectations of fetching A$350 million.

Uganda still grapples with mass forced evictions being aided by international development financiers that are hosted and protected by big nations.

The United Arab Emirates has expressed interest in investing in Indonesia's farming sector, specifically sugarcane plantations, says the secretary general of the Agriculture Ministry.

Le projet de transformer Madagascar en futur grenier de l’océan Indien risque de ressusciter le scandale relatif à la location de terre érable pour des investisseurs sud coréens, selon la presse malgache

An Australian cattle farm was used by Chinese-owned company United World Enterprises to lure retirees into investing up to $46 million for fake agritourism and aged-care village schemes.

Reporting by Agência Pública has revealed how investors including U.S. pension funds and an Argentine agribusiness giant may be linked to illegal land deals and deforestation in Brazil’s Cerrado region.

UK-based social impact and sub-Saharan-focused investor AgDevCo announced its latest investment of $3 million in Quinta da Bela Vista Limitada – an irrigated banana estate in Mozambique’s Boane area.

One view in the market is that the new Law permits (by not prohibiting) non-Brazilian individuals and entities to invest – indirectly – in rural property, by acquiring shares in Fiagros that hold the title to rural property.

Elara India Opportunities Fund, which Indian lawmakers suspect may be linked to Gautami Adani, was the largest foreign shareholder in Karuturi Global Ltd, owning 3.25% of the company in 2018.