Last week, bids closed for an 83% stake in Fonterra's biggest supplier, Dairy Holdings, which oversees 72 South Island farms. Bidders reportedly include Chinese dairy giant Bright Dairy, a pastoral fund owned by Australian investment bank Macquarie Group, British private equity firm Terra Firma. US private equity firm Carlyle Group and the Harvard Endowment Fund.
“They are moving in,” said Carlo Lovatelli, president of the Brazilian Association of Vegetable Oil Industries. “They are looking for land, looking for reliable partners. But what they would like to do is run the show alone.”
- New York Times
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26 May 2011
Smallholding income can be far more productive for rural areas than export orientated or foreign-owned large farms because any income earned is spent in the rural area.
Uruguay's president said on Wednesday he wanted to raise taxes on the country's biggest landowners -- including Argentine-based agricultural company El Tejar and George Soros's Adecoagro -- to boost the state's share of bumper farming and forestry sector profits
Panoramica delle cosietà elvetiche coinvolte nell'accparramento di terre.
- L'OrA deLL'EReSia!
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26 May 2011
Des sociétés basées en Suisse possèdent et gèrent des surfaces considérables dans les pays en développement
- Domaine Public
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26 May 2011
A new study into how virtual water moves around the world offers an explanation for the farmland leasing strategy, reports New Scientist
- New Scientist
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26 May 2011
China's enormous sovereign wealth fund, the China Investment Corporation, may have set aside up to 1.5% or about $6 billion of its massive foreign exchange reserves to invest in New Zealand assets, including potentially dairy farms.
Indonesia, the world's No.1 palm oil producer, signed into law a 2-year freeze on new permits that may prompt palm oil firms to seek new ways to grow supply to meet rising demand from India and China, such as buying more land in Africa
SA’s commercial agricultural skills are a sought-after currency on the continent, with Nigeria and Sierra Leone the latest to announce bold plans to recruit South African farmers to their countries.
Amid some misgivings about India’s acquisition of vast stretches of land, Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi Wednesday rejected charges of land grab as “loose talk” and welcomed Indian investment for development.
Mr. Zenawi said it was possible that land-grabbing was going on elsewhere in Africa but not in Ethiopia, adding, “I want to reassure Indian companies that they are welcome here. We want them to come and farm what is virgin land.”
We must not suffer with a false ‘nationalistic’ sentiment because the same companies are disinheriting our own people from their land and using it for non agricultural purposes and then procuring huge land abroad to get it imported to India.
- CounterCurrents
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25 May 2011
Swedish pension buffer fund AP2 and US pension fund manager TIAA-CREF have formed a joint venture to invest at least US$500 million in farmland in the US, Australia and Brazil.
- Global Pensions
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25 May 2011
Faute d’investissements suffisants, moins de 10 % des terres gérées par l’Office du Niger, plus grand projet d’aménagement hydroagricole de toute l’Afrique de l’Ouest, sont exploités. Pour développer la zone, Bamako tente, tant bien que mal, de faire appel aux capitaux privés.
- Jeune Afrique
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25 May 2011