An internal document recently posted on IRRI's website reveals that the Institute has been advising Saudi Arabia in the context of its strategy to acquire farm land overseas for its own food production.

Everywhere in Africa the story is more or less the same: communal rights are being grossly interfered with, farming systems upturned, livelihoods decimated, and water use and environments changed in ways which are dubiously sustainable.

Only legal recognition of commons as the communal property of communities is sufficient to afford real protection, writes Liz Alden Wily

In recent times the practice of land grabbing (which is intrinsically tied with water grabbing) has increased.

The issue of land grabbing has been on the agenda for some years now, but it seems that the academic focus is changing.

There may emerge a situation when Ukrainians will be starving in spite of having the most fertile black earth.

Gobal fund manager Schroders is launching an Agricultural Land Fund, only months after closing its USD 6 billion Alternative Solutions Agriculture Fund due to excessive investor demand.

Are land and water rights for real? How can they be guaranteed in the face of the insurmountable bargaining power that big corporations seem to posses?

Investors are pouring into farmland in the US and parts of Europe, Latin America and Africa as global food prices soar.

European pension funds are investing in global farmland, with a focus on emerging markets. If political problems arise, “You'll have the World Bank on your side,” SilverStreet's chief investment officer said.

China is one of the world's largest consumers of agricultural commodities such as soy and palm oil that drive deforestation globally. But it isn’t just Chinese consumption of these commodities that is helping fuel forest destruction. Global Witness new analysis sheds a spotlight on the often-overlooked role of Chinese banks as some of the biggest global financiers of deforestation.

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.

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".

A Chinese company isn’t buying Smithfield. A shell company based in Cayman Islands is. Instead of a story about “China buying up the world”, this turns out to be a story of a precarious leveraged buyout deal by some large global private equity firms looking to borrow their way to a fortune.

So does this mean farming might now be a good place to make money? Some investors certainly think so, according to ETF Securities.

According to asset managers, a window is emerging for institutional money to flow into agriculture due to change of ownership, notably in markets such as Australia and the US.

As Europe's debt crisis rattles global equity market confidence farming is being increasingly championed by many as a sound, long-term bet for investors needing a safe haven for their money - particularly superannuation funds.

Wary of fluctuations on Wall Street, more wealthy Americans, private funds and foreigners are putting money into parcels of cornfields, fruit orchards and other US agricultural products.

New York-based hedge fund Water Asset Management LLC spent $100 million to buy farmland and water rights in Western Arizona, stirring concerns about a future “water grab” from that rural area and of corporate control over a major groundwater source.

NFFC says that a new “land grab” is underway in the US, with Wall Street investors, pension funds, and other financiers looking for a safe place to park their money and turning to farmlands as their preferred investment.

Stephen Diggle plans to open his personal portfolio of farmlands in the US, Uruguay and New Zealand to investors and to pour money into Africa and eastern Europe as global food prices soar.

Worldwide farmland under management reversed upward trends in recent years, with assets falling 15.7% to $16.2 billion, according to Pensions & Investments' annual survey.

The global financial crisis may have hit tax-effective agribusiness schemes hard, but the prospects of the small group of companies that survived are anything but gloomy. "We're actually tapping into the new GFC, which is the global food crisis," says Wayne Overall, executive director of agribusiness managed investment scheme operator Almond Investors Limited

Farmland has become the darling of alternative investing, sending hedge funds and wealthy investors into bidding wars for plots of land once deemed ordinary. And it is not just big money getting in on the game. From Stockholm to Chicago to Vancouver, ordinary investor money is pouring into fields around the world.

Cape Town-based Polar Star Management Ltd plans to use its own money to buy small farms and processing companies in South Africa this year.

Two South African asset management firms launched a 3 billion rand farmland investment fund on Wednesday that is expected to help boost agricultural development in Africa's biggest economy.

Last year trustees added a global farmland fund managed by Insight Investment Management to the Kingfisher pension scheme.

According to BlackRock world agriculture fund portfolio manager and director Desmond Cheung there is a "wall of money" that is looking to back the world's growing appetite for a stable and growing food supply.

NPR takes a closer look at the reality behind the rhetoric, and went to Mozambique, a hot spot in the global rush for land.

Listening to Susan Payne you could be forgiven for thinking land funds are a holy grail for the ethical investor: money-making opportunities with a sanctifying air of do-goodery.