Institutional investors are poised to make grabs for large farmland assets in ­Australia, according to local and ­offshore fund managers.

Swedish pension fund AP2 plans to conduct an external audit in response to criticism by Swedwatch for not disclosing the precise locations of its Brazilian farm holdings.

Listed Singaporean company QAF, ­formerly known as Bunge, has sold out its last dairy farm in Australia to the European pension fund-backed ACE Farming for close to $5 million.

Discussion paper for the workshop ‘Mapping the State of Play on the Global Food Landscape’ Waterloo, 25-27 September 2014.

Australia's dairy industry is the new flavour of the month among foreign investors, with global pension funds, food companies and wealthy individuals turning their focus from New Zealand towards Victoria and Tasmania.

The ACB releases new report which shows the extent to which South African agribusinesses dominate the farm to fork agribusiness value chain in Africa-worth billions of dollars.

Thousands of miles from pricey U.S. farmland, a Michigan pension fund is expanding its investments in Australian farms, betting on good returns from the comparatively cheaper assets and surging commodity prices.

German airline Lufthansa in talks with several investment firms about taking on management of a private equity fund that will invest into farmland in Cameroon and Eastern Europe to grow oil crops.

AP Pension, the €16 billion Danish pension fund, has now invested €40 million into local farms representing half of its farmland allocation for the year.

The Swedish pension fund is considering increasing its exposure to Southern Pastures, a New Zealand dairy farm fund, alongside six other investors including the New Mexico Education Retirement Board.

Swedish pension fund AP Fonden 2 has invested $750 million to TIAA-CREF Global Agriculture II, confirming rumours that the pension was one of three foreign investors contributing to the vehicle’s $1.4 billion fundraise.

A Scandanavian pension fund has poured $20 million into Australian dairy farms to help lift stagnant local milk production.

Teays River Investments, LLC, a big farmland and agribusiness investment company opted to sell two irrigated strawberry and vegetable cropland holdings, purchased just a few years ago, at a $650,000 loss.

US pension fund manager TIAA-CREF has secured $1.4bn for its second agriculture fund from three unnamed investors, according to a document filed with the SEC.

Český fond půdy hopes to make 2,000 individual land acquisitions a year.

Some 33 percent of pollsters voted that family offices were showing the greatest appetite for the asset class, while 31 percent pointed to institutional investor demand.

US pension fund manager TIAA-CREF, under pressure to put cash to work after having raised $2bn for TIAA-CREF Global Agriculture, agreed to purchase 12,528 ha of farmland in Florida.

A US pension fund investor that flies under the radar has continued its spending spree on quality agricultural land in WA with the purchase of two farms in Grass Patch for about $9 million.

Anuradha Mittal, Executive Director of the Oakland Institute, argues that the time has come for a more holistic discussion of land deals that places transfer of land in both the developed and developing worlds along the same continuous spectrum.

Wall Street is looking for ways to invest in America’s heartland, and the government is ready to play matchmaker.

A small but growing group of sophisticated investors and bankers are combining crops and the soil they grow in into an asset class that ordinary investors can buy a piece of.

The $128-million deal that saw Canada Pension Plan acquire 46,500 hectares of Saskatchewan farmland was "wrong, both legally and morally," says Rick Swenson, leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of Saskatchewan.

According to data provider Preqin, there are 25 private equity funds targeting agriculture investments, with a total target of $1.1 billion.

For private equity houses, pension funds and family offices, the sprawling farms of sub Saharan Africa are the new land of plenty.

UK pensions funds and asset management companies potentially have up to £37 billion invested in ‘land grabs’ worldwide, according to a report published by Friends of the Earth.

One industry leader estimates that $10 billion in institutional capital is looking for access to US farmland, but that number could easily rise as investors seek to ride out uncertain financial times by placing their money in the perceived safety of agriculture.

This report identifies broad trends in farmland investing with the potential to affect countries in the Global North and Global South

This year Rabo Farm's first fund, with a size of € 315 million, will be fully subscribed, and a new fund, the Rabo Farm Europe Fund II, will be launched.

Australia’s major banks are funding large-scale illegal “land grabs” in the developing world and enabling illegal logging, child labour or other human rights abuses.

"You don't have to be a financial genius to sense an opportunity here."