Differing land ownership laws in East Africa are hurting the growth of agribusiness as the sector is unable to attract needed private equity funds.

A large Chinese investor is looking to secure a concession for 10,000 hectares of land on the Bolaven plateau in Champassak province, Laos PDR, for rice, small crops and cattle raising, according to provincial officials.

The writing is on the wall for anyone who doubts China's plans to invest billions of dollars for a big stake in WA agriculture.

BEK-Pengxin Agritech aims to have more than one million hectares of land producing food and high-end by-products from agricultural estates in each of South Africa’s provinces.

The Insight Global Farmland Fund, has snapped up Forrest Hill Station in the Northern Territory and all its cattle for $6.4 million in a deal negotiated by Elders.

Wilmar says it plans to expand its oil palm plantations holdings in West Africa and to start producing sugar in Burma.

As election nears, government's land policies have become a campaign issue

Sifca Group, which owns Africa’s biggest palm-oil refinery located in Ivory Coast, said it plans to spend $417 million in the next five years on plantations and factories in Ghana, Nigeria and Liberia.

Farmers in Mozambique are calling on the governments of Japan, Brazil and Mozambique to halt a project aimed at supporting agricultural development there, saying it will result in land grabs.

Farm advocates fear a loosening of the acreage that can be sold to foreign investors will drive up Wisconsin farmland prices.

Industrial cultivation of oil palm has "wreaked havoc" on rainforests and forest peoples in Southeast Asia and now threatens to do the same in the Congo Basin, a report from the Rainforest Foundation UK warns

Today's neocolonials are no longer content monopolising the output of the lands; they want the source of the produce, too — the land itself and the accompanying water supply.

When a Chinese investor bought a farm outside this village a few years back, he was pleased enough to name it Golden Land. The soil was rich, the sunshine and rain bountiful. The land, deep in rural Russia, was also largely devoid of people. No more.

Adecoagro, which owns nearly 300,000 hectares of land in Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay, said it had sold its San Jose site for $1,212 per hectare, compared with a purchase price of $85 per hectare in 2002.

In the last five years, land concessions totaling tens of thousands of hectares have been granted to private companies for industrial sugarcane production in Cambodia.

Resource conflicts are building in the southernmost part of West Papua, as agribusiness companies stealthily invade the forests, leaving its people dispossessed.

Herakles says it will provide locals with steady work, roads and health care. But critics call the planned plantation, which would cover Fabe and at least 30 other forest villages in Cameroon, a land grab. Special report from Reuters.

Indigenous communities are under threat from a recent spurt of investors and multinational companies interested in putting their money into Kenyan oil, mining, wind farms and agribusiness projects.

Adecoagro, the agricultural company that counts George Soros as its biggest investor, is giving potential buyers the chance to get a hold of farms in Brazil and Argentina at a 36 percent discount to its net assets.

Foreign ownership of farm land is a sensitive issue in Australia and "across the ditch" in New Zealand.

SLC Agricola, the Brazil farm operator with large ambitions in farmland acquisition, sealed a $239m cash injection from UK fund manager Valiance Asset Management for a business aimed at turning scrub into "high-quality" farms.

Commodities group Louis Dreyfus has agreed to take a minority stake in Malaysian palm oil firm Felda.

Two key areas requiring urgent attention are global agricultural norms and financialization.

Afrifresh Group, a South African agriculture group, is set to acquire a controlling stake in Ariston Holdings, as Emvest pulls out.

“This so-called joint venture smacks of land-grabbing and conflict of interest on the part of President Aquino’s political lieutenant in the Gulf.” – Danilo Ramos, Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas

Farm Lands of Guinea Inc. have decided to apply for a 10,000 ha lease in the Office du Niger to grow soybean, maize and rice

Foreign investors aren't just after land in Africa. Access to water is essential – which can bring them into direct competition with the needs of local communities

Two of the last big Australian-owned sugar mills, Maryborough and Proserpine, could soon be sold to foreign buyers in takeover deals worth more than $350 million.

With 75% of the world's population making their living from farming, buying land in foreign countries to feed your country's growing population is not always welcome by the locals. Are land grabs good business or is it morally questionable?

Socfin Agricultural Company is embroiled in serious land lease agreement tussle that has the tendency to ignite conflict between foreign investors and locals.