When will governments recognise the immense potential of their own farmers and their sustainable, diverse family farming systems, that are so desperately in need of genuine 'responsible' agricultural investment to assure food and seed sovereignty, asks Joan Baxter

Tanzania's President says his government has decided to work with the private sector in large scale farming and the Tazara corridor is the starting point.

Macquarie Group Ltd. plans to own and run 500,000 acres of soybean and grain farms in Brazil over the next three years

Gaiacor International, together with its strategic partner MITC Investments, Ltd., has commenced negotiations with Agro North with the intent of forming a joint venture to acquire and reclaim agricultural land in Argentina.

The long-term danger I foresee, in the worst case scenario, is that the debt spiral will eventually converge with the land grabs.

AgriNurture Inc has signed the enclosed MoA with Far Eastern Agricultural Investment Company of Saudi Arabia for food crop plantations and processing plants in the Philippines.

The World Bank is marching ahead with plans to facilitate global land grabs, while not releasing a report that confirms the negative impacts of these deals for local communities.

Unfortunately, the US Senate inquiry into Goldman Sach's alleged malfeasance is unlikely to question why the company in 2008 decided to acquire ten intensive poultry farms in China's Hunan and Fujian provinces for $300 million.

"Investors like Citadel Capital and Goldman Sachs must be stopped from acquiring large tracts of land in Africa because this practice has become a serious threat to the continent's food sovereignty"

"In the age of derivatives and evaporating valuations, farmland is gold with a cash flow."

Bunge Limited, a premier global agribusiness and food company in the US, has recently announced plans to acquire 25,000 acres in Sao Paulo, Brazil, from the local firm Acucar Guarani to grow cane for its sugar and ethanol mills.

Do we or do we not want to promote Arab agricultural integration and to foster inter Arab investments in farming?