Macquarie Group Limited looks to be moving in on more agricultural investments with the launch of a new fund to target dairy farms in Australia.

Circle of Blue have put together an interactive map of land grabs by country and by sector.

The Gillard Government (Australia) has announced a working group to consult on the development of a Commonwealth foreign ownership register for agricultural land.

Only a fool would believe Australia's agricultural development could be funded without foreign investment from sovereign wealth funds, according to Trade Minister Craig Emerson.

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.

Trading as Kimberley Agricultural Investments, it's understood that a Chinese investment group is interested in developing a major sugar industry in the region, as well as a meatworks capable of processing 500,000 head of cattle a year.

The government's plans to make northern Australia into an Asian food bowl with the help of Chinese investment may run into trouble, after a new poll confirmed opposition to foreigners buying the farm.

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

Karuturi, which has 300,000 ha in Ethiopia, is now targeting the DRC, Tanzania, Mozambique, Senegal and Sierra Leone.

There are unconfirmed reports that former Labor prime minister Bob Hawke is representing a Shanghai-based company wanting to farm all 15,000 hectares of the land being developed as part of the Ord irrigation project in Western Australia.

Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund, with an estimated $100 billion in assets, expects to start exports of grains and wool from Australia as it nears completion of a $486 million farm investment plan

China would invest billions of dollars to transform vast tracts of undeveloped land in northern Australia for farming, under a plan confirmed yesterday by the federal government.

The Chinese Government is seeking less scrutiny of its Australian farm raids. Sources say the Chinese are pushing the issue as part of a planned free trade agreement with Australia.

Corporate Agriculture Australia managing director Gordon Verrall believes WA farmers have nothing to worry about in regards to foreign investment.

Hassad Foods' farmland purchases in Australia are guided by a risk minimising strategy. The lands are distributed across different climes and water regimes over a wide geographic area.

New Zealand is one of many countries upon whom China’s entrepreneurs have cast their eyes for opportunities to buy farmland, mineral and power resources to shore up China’s looming food shortage and resource-hungry economy.

With the purchase of nearly 15,000ha of land in Jerramungup last month, the Qatar-based Hassad Food Company now owns 250,000ha of farmland in Austalia

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.

Liberal MP backs calls from farming groups nationwide to tighten government regulations that scrutinise potential sales of Australian farmland and water assets to foreign investors and increase transparency.

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.

Family that sold Australia's biggest water licence in history has been selling its NSW farming operations and is setting up a new agricultural empire in the Blue Nile state in Sudan

The alternative investment company, with $5bn of interests, revealed the appointment of seven managers, in countries including Australia, Brazil, and Romania, in a drive to expand in agriculture.

CP Group has opened an office in Melbourne to start buying red meat and grains and set up a salmon farm in Australia.

Kiribati President Anote Tong says there are no plans to begin moving people to the newly-purchased 2,200 ha of land in Fiji. The estate is rich agricultural land and its role is more likely to be for food security.

Macquarie Group's new farmland fund, which is targeting farms in Australia and Brazil, has purchased its first two properties in Australia worth a total of almost $40 million.

With foreign investment in agriculture already occurring in Australia, many within the agricultural industry believe we need to be wary.

Almost half of Australian executives surveyed by an international law firm favor higher trade barriers to protect the nation’s food supply and see foreign investment in agriculture and farmland as a threat.

Corporate control of Australia’s farmland is beginning to ruffle feathers among some of the country’s primary producers.


Hangzhou Wahaha Group Co, China's biggest beverage producer, hopes to invest about $220 million in dairy farms in Western Australia in order to expand its import channels for milk.

Australian Liberal senator Bill Heffernan has described as "bullshit" his party's proposed policy for more scrutiny of overseas companies buying into Australian agriculture because it ignored the real threat posed by foreign government-owned funds buying up farmland.