Senator believes a revision of foreign investment rules must adequately consider the changing nature of national sovereignty, in the face of a mounting global food security task.

The EBRD makes a US$45 million equity investment in KazExportAstyk, which controls 1m hectares of agricultural land in Kazakhstan – an area about the size of Denmark.

After trumpeting Chinese investment in "a very large agricultural project" in the Bahamas that would be up and running by September, senior government officials are now backing off the subject.

Agricultural investment in Sudan by Arab countries looking to guarantee supplies of staples such as wheat for their people will account for up to 50 percent of all investment in the country from 2010

Deposed President Marc Ravalomanana brought the house of Madagascar down upon himself. But he has been replaced by a young untested leader who, although he has some public support, is full of himself and clearly contemptuous of democratic institutions. The result is that investment in Madagascar, and perhaps across the continent, will be hurt, writes Stephen Hayes

King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia told President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo on Tuesday that he is sending a high-level business mission to the Philippines in April to look for investment opportunities in the Philippine agriculture sector.

China's richest man, Alibaba founder Jack Ma, slipped into New Zealand incognito last month. The founder of the world's largest retailer, which specialises in e-commerce, was in Waikato during Chinese New Year to check out his latest investment.

Alternative investment management firm Blue Sky is targeting North American institutional investors with a new strategy that will invest in Australian agriculture and related industries.

The Philippine government yesterday proposed investment opportunities in the agriculture sector for Saudi Arabians to ensure the supply of agriculture commodities and develop idle government lands.

German-based Ekosem-Agrar unveiled a E50m bond issue to raise funds for doubling its Russian milking herd, and expanding its 160,000-hectare landbank, extending the wave of investment heading into the country's dairy market.

Nearly 150 homes destroyed in the latest incident in conflict between indigenous Batin Sembilan residents and former Wilmar company.

Philippine President Arroyo will meet with Saudi Minister of Agriculture Fahd Bin Abdulrahman Balghunaim to discuss bilateral agricultural projects and with members of the Saudi business community for talks on proposals for investments in the Philippines.

Sinohydro Group of China will invest more than $100 million in Angola to develop a 25-year, tax-free 30,000 hectare land concession to produce soybeans for export.

Nationwide advertisements have been placed in newspapers today, calling for an end to foreign ownership of New Zealand farmland.

Korean investors are nervous about trusting African governments’ guarantees, and about complex and frequently arbitrary regulations.

Tasmanian senator says she will grill officials when they front Senate Estimates later this year over FIRB's history of approving foreign farm and asset purchases against the national interest.

Of the 600 hectares of farmland that KAI has cleared and prepared, roughly 250 hectares will be dedicated to the chia, with sweet sorghum to be planted next.

Can land grabs by foreign investors in developing countries feed the hungry? So says the press release for a recent, and unfortunate, economic study.

“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

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

Abu Dhabi finalises scheme to purchase 29,400 hectares of land in Sudan

Magcor is investing $10 million USD to boost food production and security in Ghana after investing in Agricon Global last year.

Pengxin International of Shanghai, which already has farmland holdings in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil and Cambodia, has offered to buy the 16 North Island Crafar farm properties in New Zealand

Chinese agribusiness companies Agria and New Hope Group launched a joint bid to take Agria's stake in New Zealand's PGGW to a controlling 50.01%, but Agria CEO Xie Tao said the move was not motivated to secure resources such as food.

The multinational conglomerate plans to develop a 5,000 hectares rice farm and a sugar factory to complement its existing sugarcane plantation in Jigawa State, as well as to expand into sesame and peanut production

Pakistan has offered Saudi Arabia a cattle farm in Punjab with 50,000 acres of land on lease for corporate farming

African Development Bank (AfDB) country director, Freddie Kwesiga, said the co-operating partners look forward to specific interventions to ensure improved land tenure and equitable access to land by partnerships of small, medium and large-scale investors.

"Money is still being pumped into the sector almost regardless of geography," says director of Primer International.

The foreign ownership debate in Australia needs to evolve to – or be merged with – a broader debate about the future of the agricultural sector.

After a painstaking two-year negotiation process, the Principles lack the power to change the status quo, whereby corporate profit trumps human rights and the environment.