Large-scale soy monoculture is expanding rapidly in Latin America. Boosted by dubious investment from multi-national corporations, it has moved well beyond the southern states and into the Amazon area.

Foreign ownership of farm land is a sensitive issue in Australia and "across the ditch" in New Zealand.

Islamic Development Bank and Rabobank team up to launch fund that intends to invest 5-10% of its funds in global farmland.

Special issue of Water Alternatives

Our conception of land-grabs and global discussions on the phenomenon are informed too much by contentious, large-scale land deals in Africa and too little by examples from other regions. This has led to many unfounded assumptions about the nature of land-grab.

GRAIN looks behind the current scramble for land in Africa to reveal a global struggle for what is increasingly seen as a commodity more precious than gold or oil - water.

As Europe's debt crisis rattles global equity market confidence farming is being increasingly championed by many as a sound, long-term bet for investors needing a safe haven for their money - particularly superannuation funds.

Despite the lucrative returns that foreign investors can achieve by investing in African agriculture, the on-the-ground realities of operating in the continent is often less rosy.

Dr Fahd bin Abdulrahman Balghunaim, minister for agriculture for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, speaks to This is Africa about the government's strategy in Africa.

US stevia company acquires 50 acres of farmland in Cambodia for a propagation centre from which it will coordinate a planned expansion to 5,000 acres.

Trading as Kimberley Agricultural Investments, it's understood that a Chinese investment group is interested in developing a major sugar industry in the region, as well as a meatworks capable of processing 500,000 head of cattle a year.

With demand for food rising with China's growing population and economy, domestic companies are looking to boost investments in resource-rich foreign countries such as Brazil and Indonesia to fill the food supply gap at home.