Global institutional investors, led by Canadian pension funds, are piling into the sector, a trend mirroring growing allocations to the farming and related rural sectors worldwide.

Qantas Super plans to generate a higher proportion of returns from the agricultural sector after committing $200 million to the development of high-yielding horticultural crops on properties managed by farmland investor goFARM.

Chinese billionaire Xianfeng Lu has put one of the country’s biggest dairy operations, the nearly 200-year-old Woolnorth farming aggregation in Tasmania, up for sale after losing a big milk supply contract with dairy giant Fonterra earlier this year.

Canada’s Public Sector Pension Investment Board (PSP Investments), the largest foreign institutional investor in Australian agriculture, has acquired more than 8,000 hectares of farmland in New South Wales from Duxton Farms for A$70m.

AAM Investment Group has sold its 14,074ha Sunshine Farms Aggregation in the Lachlan Valley of New South Wales for an undisclosed sum and the buyer is believed to be the US pension fund manager Nuveen.

An Australian management fund has nabbed another slice of historic Tasmanian farmland from billionaire Chinese businessman Xianfeng Lu and his troubled dairy company.

Canada's public worker pension fund manager PSP Investments has made a significant stride in Australia's agricultural sector by acquiring a majority stake in Ellerslie Free Range Farms, a leading egg producer, for $180 million.

The world’s largest manager of farmland assets, Nuveen Natural Capital, has taken advantage of Treasury Wine Estates’ decision to downsize its commercial wine business after acquiring water rights and 434 ha of its orchards.

Joe Lewis, the main shareholder of Australian Agriculture, a company that owns about 1 per cent of the Australia’s land mass, has pleaded guilty in a US court to insider trading.

The largest grain growing operation in Western Australia is expected to fetch close to $200 million after its owners, the Saudi Arabian government and a Perth-headquartered agricultural fund decided to sell.

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.

Some of Western Australia's most sought-after cattle country is set to move from Chinese to Canadian ownership in a newly struck deal.

Bloomberg exposé on Frank Timis' plan to turn Les Fermes de la Teranga (ex-Senhuile) into a major source of animal feed for the Gulf States and the implications for Dakar's water supply

Surexport has just announced its completion of three acquisitions: Portuguese raspberry producer Solana; Moroccan blueberry producer AG Group; and Spanish producer of organic berries Flor De Doñana.

The founder of debt ladden Chinese property developer Shimao Group Holdings has put a Western Australia cattle station portfolio almost as big as Belgium on the market with an asking price of about $250 million.

Over the last three years, Australia’s agriculture and farmland have been in high demand for institutional investors in Canada searching for diversification and sustainability.

Pastoral Partners Australia, a carbon farming and sustainable grazing fund owned by New Zealand infrastructure investor Morrison & Co, has lifted the size of its portfolio to over 100,000 hectares.

More than a decade after subsidiaries of multinational rubber firm Socfin Group forcibly cleared and seized the farms, burial grounds and sacred forests of Bunong indigenous communities in Mondulkiri province, Cambodia, the company now seeks to collect tens of thousands of dollars from these farmers for the cost of “land preparation” and other fees.

The board of Australia’s largest fruit and vegetable company, Costa Group, has agreed to a cut-price $1.5 billion takeover offer from a consortium headed by private equity firm Paine Schwartz Partners.

Financial players are moving aggressively to snatch up lands around the world with access to water for irrigation. Their strategy is to pump as much water as they can and as fast as they can into the production of crops that reap high prices in export markets.

New report by the Oakland Institute examines the African Forestry Impact Platform bankrolled by European development finance institutions, Japanese oil interests, and an Australian investment firm.

Through Macquarie Asset Management, PFJC will invest in farmland with various crops, such as wheat, beans, cotton and avocados on farmlands spread across eastern and western Australia.

Institutional investors, large corporates and big family operators are expected to dominate demand for prime farmland this financial year as smaller farmers’ buying power takes a hit from higher interest rates, lower profits.

The Warakirri Diversified Agriculture Fund’s portfolio includes high-quality berry, citrus and soft-leaf vegetables, agri-infrastructure, and vineyard assets across five states.

Canada’s CDPQ has invested in two, large farm operations in Australia through its new A$200m sustainable agricultural platform with Clean Energy Finance Corporation

Canadian company pursuing a carbon offset project in Sierra Leone says it is committed to equitable revenue sharing arrangements with local smallholders and a transparent consent process monitored by the NGO Namati.

Leading Australian real estate firm LAWD has partnered with fractionalization platform Bricklet to enable buyers to invest in Australian agriculture without the capital requirements associated with acquiring a property in its entirety.

Kilter Rural launches a $333.7 mln agriculture fund that will buy and develop 21,000 hectares of farmland in Southeastern Australia, creating biodiversity and carbon credits in the process.

In the latest deal, private equity-backed Stone Axe Pastoral has acquired the Moyhu Wagyu aggregation in Victoria’s King Valley from tax reform pioneer Bob Officer for about $25 million.

Kilter Rural was recently awarded a US$50m mandate from a large US financial institution to invest in Australian agriculture.