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.

China's Cofco Corporation has acquired an equity stake in Australian sugar producer Tully Sugar and is said to be pursuing a take-over.

Australia is "asleep at the wheel" when it comes to foreign companies buying important agricultural land and greater scrutiny is needed, farmers say.

Colin Filer says 5 million hectares of customary land has passed into the hands of national and foreign corporations in Papua New Guinea using a legal mechanism called the 'lease-lease-back scheme'.

Prime minister's adviser on science and innovation wants Australian companies to consider buying land in Mozambique to counterbalance foreign purchases of farming land in Australia and shore up Australia's food supply.

The Australian Parliament has moved to quell some of the anxieties surrounding a perceived foreign buy-up of local land, last week passing a motion regarding foreign ownership of agricultural land and agribusiness.

Foreign ownership of Australian land and agribusiness will soon be monitored.

World food security fears may be driving the foreign rush to buy Australian farmland and agribusinesses, says Nationals' leader, Warren Truss.

Parliament is calling on the Productivity Commission to review the recent surge in foreign investment in farming, focusing on its effects on the economy and food security.

For the sake of our farmers and our national food security, the Federal Government needs to get tough on Australia's foreign investment policy.

Australian companies are interested in making investment in Pakistan’s agriculture sector from production of crops to their processing and export.

Foreign investment in Australia's food chain is increasing at a rate that is causing concern, and not just for people on the land.

Farm Lands of Guinea Limited controls nearly a quarter of a million acres of underutilized West African agricultural holdings under an agreement with the Ministry of Agriculture of Guinea.

Former Prime Minister, Bob Hawke, is leading a push to get Arabs to invest in Australian farmland as part of a long term food security strategy for oil-rich Gulf States

China is gearing up for a multi-billion-dollar investment push into the Australian agricultural sector to secure food supplies after a senior official admitted the country would face pressure supplying farm produce to its 1.3 billion people over the next five years.

Mauritian-listed JPT Capital Agrifund intends to invest Stg50 million ($A80 million) in wheat farms in Australia.

"All of a sudden the world is waking up and saying, 'Wow, emerging markets, food security... this asset class is going to really perform in the medium term -- the next 8-20 years,'" says new convert James Howard, manager of the Futuregrowth Agri-Fund

Alberta pension fund pays $415 million for more than 1500 square miles of forest in Australia to be converted to timber plantations and agriculture.

Olam executive sees good side to overseas investment in Australian farming.

Hong Kong-based Nexis Holdings has a $500 million budget to purchase farmland between northern New South Wales and North Queensland.

Is the Sunshine Coast at risk of losing the farm to foreign interests?

Foreign farmland acquisitions are a telling vote of no confidence in international markets by food-deficient countries, which understandably fear a repeat of the 2008 food crisis may deny them opportunities to buy grains and other essential soft commodities at any price.

The global boom in commodities has raised the profile of three Asian agribusinesses: Olam, Wilmar and Noble, all with important farmland holdings.

"We want to make agriculture sexy," says the head of Macquaraie's Retail Agribuiness operation.

It may appear contradictory for the Japanese government to support aggressive investment in overseas land while seeking ways to restrict purchases by foreign interests at home.