Australians do realise the value of what is being sold, a land agent and rural property specialist said, "but their hands are tied because they can't raise the money".

The first Africasia Sustainable Farming Fund will be investing in land across the Africasia region and in Sri Lanka to take advantage of the current post war economic boom in the country and the demand and shortfall for basic food crops in the region and globally, reports Apex Fund Services, a UK-based hedge fund

Pension funds may be one of the few classes of land grabbers that people can pull the plug on, by sheer virtue of the fact that it is their money.

That land is far more complex and valuable than plain dirt was one of the central themes of FC Business Intelligence’s “World Agriculture Investment USA” conference in Chicago on May 9-10, 2011. A report from AllAboutAlpha.

If the early reports are anything to go by, the Bangladeshi deals already incorporate many elements that suggest they are being done in a way likely to engender fierce resentment and opposition in the African countries concerned.

From the Middle East to Madagascar, high prices are spawning land grabs and ousting dictators. Welcome to the 21st-century food wars.

I urge the Government to stop conceding to foreigners the natural resources and the national reserves of the peoples of Ethiopia, and to begin helping Ethiopian farmers preserve and farm their lands organically.

Principles for responsible agriculture investment are stock templates, designed to deflect the fallout from a growing number of media reports of land deals between investors and governments.

Affected rural poor communities and their allies are not likely to simply accept the land grabbing process in the way the World Bank and its supporters might suppose.

GAIA and others see the most leverage for investment returns coming from emerging market regions like Brazil, Russia, Ukraine and Kazakhstan due to low valuations, low costs of production and low land values.

The fact is, Madagascar agriculture must rely on foreign capital, despite the risk of problems from farmland deals, according to Masanobu Furuya of the Asahi Shimbum

To speak only of the ‘threats and potential opportunities’ that these investments highlight leaves underexposed the grave risks to human rights that they pose, writes Dr. Margot Salomon, from the London School of Economics

Global Witness proposes how the FAO Voluntary Guidelines on responsible governance of land tenure can best address the macroeconomic impacts of corruption and governance failures in large scale land acquisitions.

A new report argues that the EU has become the world's largest net importer of agricultural produce, and therefore the largest user of agricultural land that is not its own.

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.

The global food crisis has prompted various rich countries to start buying up land in the poorer world to secure their food supplies. As well as affecting domestic food supplies in the countries affected, Sue Branford says it could be a time bomb for the world’s ability to cope with climate change

It isn't often you sit down with a fund manager and begin the interview by discussing their new film.

Rich countries have been buying huge plots of land in poor nations in a trend that has been called a new scamble for Africa. Olivier de Schutter, the UN's point man on the issue, tells DW what to do about it.

The problem of food security poses a real threat to global stability. Meeting in Italy last weekend, agriculture ministers of the G8 industrialized countries recognized the extent of the problem. They pledged to continue fighting hunger. But beyond calling for increased public and private investment in agriculture, the final communiqué of the ministerial meeting was short on fresh proposals.

The agribusiness managed investment scheme sector is not expected to escape the economic downturn that has hit the financial services industry.

Deputy for agriculture and fisheries to the coordinating minister for economic affairs Bayu Krisnamurthi earlier said that the government had given a priority to a regulation pertaining to the development of food estates to support Indonesia`s food security. According to him, the economic affairs coordinating ministry was drafting a regulation, 90 percent of which had been completed.

In spite of its lofty ideals, FPIC (free and priori informed consent) has one failing — it has no legal backing.

Despite important legal victories, Anuak of Gambella continue to face land evictions and repression to clear their lands for foreign and domestic investors.

Mr Clinton said that some farmers had told him sadly that a few foreign investors came to their land claiming to have large agriculture investment capacities but their projects collapsed after a short period.

Blackstone, owned by a top US Republican party donor, has launched two funds dedicated to buying farmland in Brazil that work with Brazilian companies to get around laws restricting direct foreign ownership.

If there was any doubt that China is desperate for agricultural assets, it has been dispelled by the news that China Investment Corp with its $US190 billion war chest is on the hunt all the way down to chilly Tasmania in search of fresh milk.

The news of BHP's recent bid for Potash Corp has brought the issue of investing in food security to the forefront, with CFSGAM, H3 Global and WLM Financial hot on the sector's trail.

The most unbelievably naïve reaction to the news that a mysterious Chinese company is hoping to buy up to $1.5 billion worth of dairy farms came from Federated Farmers, which said that this is an “unintended consequence” of the NZ/China Free Trade Agreemen

Recent farmland purchases by Chinese, Middle Eastern, and other foreign government investors have raised concerns about food exports being prioritized over domestic consumption.

Scotland’s richest man, an oil giant, an earl, and private equity and property firms are among those developing carbon credit projects that critics say are pushing up land prices and allowing companies to “greenwash” their image.