The 16,000-hectare farm which Första AP-fonden bought in Australia in December was one of a clutch of purchases of farmland, worth some $100m, by the pension fund.

Farm advocates fear a loosening of the acreage that can be sold to foreign investors will drive up Wisconsin farmland prices.

Rural land produced some of the best investment returns in Europe since the financial crisis began five years ago, appreciating by 51 percent across England

The Beidahuang Group has been dismayed by what it regards as negative media coverage of its investment in agricultural land in Australia and plans to scale back while it still purchases more farms.

There's been considerable disquiet over the presence of foreign buyers in the farmland market place, but the stats on the extent of foreign ownership and the emerging trends are far from clear.

The proposal to limit foreign farmland ownership in South Africa to a leasehold of a minimum of 30 years is not a sign of antagonism to foreign investment, says Rural Development and Land Reform Minister Gugile Nkwinti.

Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway has initiated a position in Archer Daniels Midland when it is anticipated that companies like ADM and Bunge will seek out targeted acquisitions of global farmland in order to both expand and diversify operations

Industrial cultivation of oil palm has "wreaked havoc" on rainforests and forest peoples in Southeast Asia and now threatens to do the same in the Congo Basin, a report from the Rainforest Foundation UK warns

As PrimeAg Australia's $125 million sale of rural properties to US fund manager TIAA-CREF goes through, the question now being raised by investors is what will happen to the residual portfolio.

Describing itself as a consultant and “master distributor” of products designed “to bring working capital to a variety of projects” – including upgrading farmland overseas and forestry –Intelligent Partnership published a 76 page report on the alternatives sector this week.

Burma has become the “latest flashpoint in an alarming trend” of global land grabs, which continue to wreak havoc on economic development and human rights around the world, two new reports have warned.

Thousands of Ethiopians are being relocated or have already fled as their land is sold off to foreign investors without their consent.

In rural Australia, the hyperbole about agriculture as a boom industry for global investors is not translating into practical benefits at the farm gate

The Itochu Corporation acquires a 33.4% stake in HyLife, one of Canada's largest pig producers, for $56.5 million.

The Ministry of Agriculture is working on a draft bill for the formation of an autonomous federal agency, which would administer land available for agricultural investment in Ethiopia.

Major farmland investors such as banks and pension funds must stop facilitating land grabs, civil society groups on the eve of a global farmland investment conference in London on December 3-5, have said.

“When things are mortgaged up to the hilt and the banks are involved then it’s either bank ownership or foreign ownership,” says South Australian sheep farmer Brian Wilson

Farmland and timberland are now separate asset classes, the UK's Pension Protection Fund has asserted in its revised investment principles.

The New Zealand government will set up a NZ$6 million model dairy farm in Burma/Myanmar, Prime Minister John Key says.

For all the willing buyers seeking tracts of Australian farm land, local investors are not among them. They wonder what all the fuss is about.

Chinese property development conglomerate Shanghai Zhongfu has won the sole right to develop 15,200ha of high-value irrigated agricultural land in northern Australia..

By virtue of Dominion Farms’ responsibility to train young students in farming techniques in Kenya and then absorb them into the enterprise or equip them for owning their own enterprises, this is not your typical land-grabbing project, writes Tukeni Obasi

Investment law allows overseas firms to fully own ventures and to lease land from the government or from authorised private owners for up to 50 years, with options for two extensions of 10 years each time.

Of the many issues brought to the table at the Slow Food joint Salone del Gusto and Terra Madre event this week in Turin, Italy, one of the most pressing is land-grabbing.

Today's neocolonials are no longer content monopolising the output of the lands; they want the source of the produce, too — the land itself and the accompanying water supply.

Argentinian Agriculture Minister Norberto Yauhar met last week with Saudi Ambassador Turki M.A. Al Madi to discuss investments that the Kingdom is considering in Argentina, particularly in San Luis.

A 2-yr consultation process to develop principles for responsible investment in agriculture was approved by the 39th Session of the Committee on World Security (CFS), which ended on Saturday at FAO headquarters.

The New South Wales Farmers Association, in Australia, has switched policies to back much tighter restrictions on foreign companies and investment funds buying Australian farmland.

A prominent activist staged a demonstration outside the 2nd Commercial Farm Asia conference at Yangon’s Parkroyal Hotel, calling on participants to respect the tenure rights of the country’s farmers.

Using or acquiring land for your company can indeed be a risky business and particularly when poor communities are affected.