In a small-town spin on a global agricultural investment trend, a group of US Midwest soybean farmers has issued a private placement this month to raise capital for farmland acquisitions in Brazil.

Sai R Karuturi, founder and MD of Karuturi Global, says the company has acquired a very large piece of land in Ethiopia and has started agricultural production from it.

The Indian government is encouraging private companies to shop for land in countries like Canada, Myanmar, Australia and Argentina to grow crops under long-term supply contracts.

The political dynamics around land are further exposing the inappropriateness of the aggressively promoted mainstream ‘toolkit’ of ‘land governance’.

Ce sont les communes de Djidja et de Za-Kpota dans le Zou qui battent le record avec près de 50% des terres cultivables aux mains de ces firmes étrangères.

"It's not something that is going to take too long, it's not rocket science," Angel Gurria, secretary-general of the OECD, said of the planned guidelines on agriculture.

La flambée des prix agricoles de 2008 a déclenché en Russie une ruée sur les terres agricoles des investisseurs britanniques, chinois, suédois et coréens. Aujourd'hui, la Russie exporte 14 % du total mondial du marché de blé.

Après avoir appauvri les peuples du Sud par une mainmise sur l’exploitation de leurs richesses, la finance internationale s’attaque maintenant à l’appropriation directe de leurs territoires.

The Company intends to develop approximately 32,500 ha of land for palm oil production in Sorong Regency, West Papua Province, Indonesia.

Indian tea companies, among others, are making a beeline to acquire estates in Africa. And the government is facilitating their hunt for good deals.

"Land grabbing" will be featured on the agenda of a high-level conference on the rice industry in November 2010 in Vietnam, where 17 agricultural ministers will be in attendance.

TADCO subsidiary has already arranged leases in Cambodia, Vietnam, Pakistan and the Philippines for export production of aromatic and long grain basmati rice.