Australia's Federal Opposition will establish a working group to investigate options for sharpening rules governing the sale of Australian agricultural land and agribusinesses, to foreign entities.

"Ultimately, we want to see more, not less, investment in Australian agriculture for the benefit of our industry, but we need to be very clear about the motives," says Jock Laurie, head of Australia's National Farmers Federation

"You get a clash of sovereignties. You might take an individual to court or a corporation to court. But I think you'll be very concerned if you take a country to court especially when that country is far bigger than the one you live in," Australian Senator Joyce said.

Asian investors have overtaken Europeans as the biggest buyers of Australian land, a snapshot of foreign acquisitions reveals.

Australia's left-leaning Greens party on Friday called for foreign investment laws to be beefed up to cover farming land and water licenses, fearing too much was falling into overseas hands.

Minister of Agriculture says Chinese government controlled company's acquisition of some of the Australia's richest food growing areas is too great a risk for the nation.

As controversy continues to bubble in Australia over the latest big local farmland buy-up and what it means for food production, it’s worth looking to see where these foreign raiders are coming from, who’s backing them and how other countries are tightening their regulations to stop them.

The buy-up of prime agricultural land by Shenhua has sparked a furious political debate in Australia

There is nothing new about foreign investment in Australian agribusiness. But a number of things are happening now which have not occurred before, writes Mike Pope.

Today as the first ever G-20 agriculture meeting starts in Paris, the Bureau is launching a series of investigations into the role played by financial investors in commodity and food markets, focusing on the rising involvement of private equity in buying land around the world and its new food frontier, fish farming.

Cientos de organizaciones de la sociedad civil, incluyendo movimientos de agricultores y ganaderos, grupos de mujeres y organizaciones no gubernamentales, harán un llamamiento internacional contra el acaparamiento de tierras en el marco de la reunión sobre agricultura del G20, celebrada en París el 22 y 23 de junio.

Des centaines d'organisations de la société civile notamment des mouvements paysans, des groupes de femmes et des organisations non-gouvernementales, lanceront un appel mondial contre l'accaparement des terres agricoles lors de la rencontre du G20 sur l'agriculture qui se tiendra à Paris les 22 et 23 juin.

Hundreds of civil society organisations including farmers' movements, women's groups and non-governmental organisations, will launch a global appeal against farmland grabbing during the G20 meeting on Agriculture in Paris on June 22 and 23.

Local stock and station agents in Western District Australia estimate the Qatar government paid a premium of up to 20 per cent in order to secure the controversial deal,

New Zealand-based agency Bayleys is putting together a portfolio of overseas property opportunities, including farms, to take on a roadshow to South East Asia, Europe and Britain.

The Middle Eastern company Hassad Foods, through Australian representatives, has been pinpointed as set to spend $45 million on five large western Victorian propertie

Government-backed companies, as Hassad Food, have begun buying up farmland around the world, with Australia’s vast tracts of top quality primary production land a prime target.

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

The Swedish National Pension Fund is teaming up with US institutional investor TIAA-CREF to buy farmland in Australia.

"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.

Subsidiary of Singapore's Wilmar pays $115m for Australia's largest sugar mill operator and plans to buy back former cane land now used for timber plantations to expand sugar production.

Investors are thinking big when it comes to farmland purchases, reports Andrew Shirley in Knight Frank's Wealth Report 2011

Last week, bids closed for an 83% stake in Fonterra's biggest supplier, Dairy Holdings, which oversees 72 South Island farms. Bidders reportedly include Chinese dairy giant Bright Dairy, a pastoral fund owned by Australian investment bank Macquarie Group, British private equity firm Terra Firma. US private equity firm Carlyle Group and the Harvard Endowment Fund.

Regulators are warning that a new real estate bubble may be forming across the US grain belt -- and National Australia Bank is right in the middle.

More than 10 per cent of Papua New Guinea's land mass has been handed over to foreign and national corporate interests over the past seven years under mysterious land deals that appear to be aimed at logging, not food or cash crop production.

Macquarie Agricultural Funds Management owns 31,500sq km of Australian grazing land on which it runs cattle and sheep.

According to Michael Yabsley of the Australian Gulf Council, agricultural land is among the top asset classes in Australia being considered by Gulf investors who have placed food security at the top of their priorities.

Brazil may start leasing farm land to foreigners to find a way around new legal restrictions on land sales and attract more foreign investment, the agriculture minister said.

Rural MPs, especially those from NSW and Queensland, have been fielding increasing complaints from constituents in recent months about the level of foreign ownership of Australian farms and agricultural businesses.

The UAE plans to hold further talks with officials from Australia with a view to invest in farmland as part of its plan to tackle food security.