New Zealand’s relative isolation and high-priced property means the nation has missed out on a global grab for land, especially farms, despite rising public disquiet about such sales, the New Zealand Institute of Economic Research says.

"The world is running out of farm land quite rapidly and farm land is going to be a very, very precious commodity in time to come. ... Australians are pretty dozy and comfortable on this issue," says Julian Cribb.

New Zealand’s overseas investment regime will be on the US’ hit list during the Trans Pacific Partnership talks this week.

Macquarie Agricultural Funds Management has started up the Macquarie Crop Fund to "acquire or lease grain and oilseed properties located in geographically diverse regions of Australia and Brazil".

The Costa family has joined other wealthy families and an institutional investor in piling into a $120 million equity raising to fund the acquisition and development of three irrigation properties.

Macquarie Group's $300 million takeover bid for a real estate investment trust, which owns vast farms across Australia, could pave the way for more farming deals involving the investment banking powerhouse and the fresh food giant Costa Group.

The Digoel Agri Group has begun operating in an Indonesia mega project being fought over by investors from around the world earmarked to become the world’s largest oil palm plantation, in a vast project that has been mired in allegations of lawbreaking.

Leah Soroka, program manager for Eastern Europe and central Asia agri-finance with the World Bank's IFC, said the President's proposal to privatise farmland would be a game-changer.

Macquarie Bank has come under fire for land clearing operations undertaken by Viridis Ag, a farming enterprise owned by the banking group’s agricultural investment management business, Macquarie Infrastructure and Real Asset.

One of the world's major buyers of farmland is under fire for their involvement in land conflicts, environmental destruction and risky investments. A new report by GRAIN and Rede Social de Justiça e Direitos Humanos presents, for the first time, a comprehensive analysis of Harvard University's controversial investments in global farmland.

Even before Lu Xianfeng completed the $280 million purchase of Australia's largest dairy farm in April 2016, the Chinese billionaire was looking to sell. In a messy proposal, Mr Lu planned to offload his holding in the historic VDL to a Chinese listed vehicle he controlled.

As China's government sets up farms in developing countries, the nation's food companies are scouring the world for premium products

US giant TIAA's Westchester has purchased a major part of northern NSW cropping farm Milton Downs from Australia's biggest wheat grower Greentree Farming for a figure some estimate to be in the vicinity of $50 million.

The $700 million fund, owned by London based Terra Firma, controls 19 properties across Australia's top end covering more than 5.6 million hectares.

“We can have a nice debate about foreign investment here in Australia, but in the global context it isn’t a discussion about whether it is nice to have, we need it, we absolutely need it.”

That palm oil listed in the ingredients of your favorite candy bar or lipstick? More and more of it comes from forest and farmland razed by multinational corporations a world away.

The situation in Indonesia, where only a fraction of development projects associated with these transactions are ever implemented, is significant for wider discussions about ‘land grabbing’ around the world.

Between the farmers and Olam lies one of Lao’s most powerful, and some allege, corrupt families, the Siphandones.

A Chinese investment group has reportedly lodged a bid to buy the entire 15,000 hectares of the Ord Expansion Project in the Kimberley region of Western Australia.

Jim Rogers, the co-founder with George Soros of the Quantum hedge fund, is particularly bullish about agriculture saying that shortages in a range of agricultural products will produce strong prices not only in those commodities but also in farm land.

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.

Joint venture with the India/UAE Allana Group acquires 20,000 head of cattle owned by Felda and gains access to over 850,000 hectares of oil palm land.

Companies from the kingdom are meeting with representatives of the state of Western Australia to discuss buying equity in farms and investing in the wheat supply chain.

The Kuwait-based firm aims to build on its base as the leading food company in the Middle East.

More than 20 million hectares of farmland in Africa and Latin America are now in the hands of foreign governments and companies, a sign of a global "land grab" that got a boost from last year's food crisis.

Both public and private sector investors in the Gulf are also looking at ways to improve local food supplies, by investing in a range of outlets from arable farm land in the Sudan, Algeria and Pakistan to introduce new technology to enhance the local production of foodstuffs and grains, livestock, poultry and fish.

The Weekly Times has compiled a list of more than 900 properties, and their owners, who range from family farms to domestic and international corporate and investment institutions. The result? The big are getting bigger.

Australian Farms Fund Management sells a 40% stake to Melbourne-based Lempriere Capital, the agricultural investment management group that partnered with China's Shandong to purchase the Cubbie Station cotton farm.

President of New South Wales Farmers Fiona Simson doesn't believe the community and farmers are opposed to foreign investment in Australian agricultural land as long as it's adding to their community, industry and economy. The question is having the tools to make sure that this is what's happening.

Australia will set up a foreign-ownership register for farm lands, Prime Minister Julia Gillard said on Tuesday, as the government moves to ease public concern over foreign buyers in the agriculture sector.