China’s growing agribusinesses and demand for soybeans and meat is bringing intensive farming and the risk of further deforestation in Brazil and beyond. Tom Levitt reports.

Colliers International estimates about A$4 billion is currently being raised for funds to invest in Australian agriculture, including PrimeAg’s raising of A$125 million in cash for a controversial unlisted A$250 million agriculture fund with Australia’s Future Fund.

Malaysian conglomerate Sime Darby Bhd is waiting for final approvals from the Peruvian government to start planting oil palm on 70,000 ha in the Latin American state.

As the amount of investor-owned farmland grows in Saskatchewan, so do concerns about foreign ownership and loopholes in the province’s farmland ownership regulations.

The dominant myth of industrial agriculture is that it produces more food and is land saving. However, the more industrial agriculture spreads, the more hungry people we have. And the more industrial agriculture spreads, the more land is grabbed.

Mawashi, Qatar’s livestock company, plans to invest in industrial agriculture and food sources outside Qatar to serve the vision and objectives of the Qatar National Food Security Programme, it was announced yesterday.

The private sector needs to double investment in the land itself to help drive agricultural development in countries that need it most, say the heads of EBRD and FAO

An Ethiopian farmer could sue the UK government after claiming a project that received funding from Britain led to the eviction from his farm and human rights abuses.

"We appreciate the Principles for Responsible Agricultural Investment elaborated by the World Bank, FAO, IFAD and UNCTAD, support the ongoing extensive consultations on these principles, and welcomed the approval of the Voluntary Guidelines for the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests."

Nigeria's Sokoto State Government and Novel Management Services of Switzerland sign a N35 billion deal for a rice project covering 25,000 ha of land in the River Rima basin.

Activists are fighting to introduce or strengthen laws intended to give women more secure access to land and are combating social norms and practices that stand in their way.

Analysts are warning of a looming food crisis, while on the other hand, pointing to plenty of land, uncultivated but fit for farming, in the Russian Far East.