The world is in transition from an era of food abundance to one of scarcity. Over the last decade, world grain reserves have fallen by one third. World food prices have more than doubled, triggering a worldwide land rush and ushering in a new geopolitics of food. Food is the new oil. Land is the new gold.

Thousands of Ethiopians are being relocated or have already fled as their land is sold off to foreign investors without their consent.

Indigenous Ethiopians demand a stop to human rights abuses stemming from agricultural investment policies

In rural Australia, the hyperbole about agriculture as a boom industry for global investors is not translating into practical benefits at the farm gate

Indofood Sukses Makmur is planning to acquire a 50 percent stake in a plantation company in Brazil through its subsidiary Indofood Agri Resources, as the company expands its sugar plantation business.

New Zealand Minister of Foreign Affairs says his country can be a logical partner for resource-rich Gulf countries as a producer of food in places like Africa, where experts say half of the potential agricultural land is under-utilised.

A day-long conference will be held on Feb. 6, 2013 at the India International Centre, New Delhi to deliberate on the ongoing land takeover in India and in African countries like Ethiopia by Indian companies.

An increasing number of investors are looking at their feet as they cast around for returns in a zero interest rate environment. Farmland is likely to become a more and more attractive asset class as food scarcity worsens and land becomes a precious commodity.

A 'villagisation' programme that has been linked to the leasing of large tracts of land for commercial agriculture has left people from Ethiopia's Gambella region bereft of land and loved ones, casting donor support in an unflattering light

As much as 10% of Romanian farmland could be in the hands of multinational businesses, but there are no official statistics to establish the full extent of the corporate takeover.

Almarai’s ownership of dairies, processing plants and a distribution system makes it more profitable than its peers. The operation’s earnings before interest and taxes margin is at least 30 percent bigger than Danone, Nestle and Savola.

Tanzania Investment Centre in collaboration with the Prime Minister's Office and the Southern Agriculture Corridor of Tanzania Centre recently organized a conference under the theme 'Accelerating Tanzania's Agribusiness Investment' in Dar es Salaam.

Thousands of subsistence farmers in Gúruè district are earning small amounts of money from soya. However, there are a few larger farmers. And land conflicts are increasing.

Nasako Besingi, director of environmental NGO Struggle to Economize the Future, says protests against a controversial palm oil plantation in the Korup National Park, southwest Cameroon will continue despite arrests and intimidation.

"If the populace objects, we will not develop the land," says Sime Darby

The question of how farmers will feed the world while adjusting to changing weather patterns appears to have been sidelined at the climate talks in Doha even as this year's crippling drought in the US sent grain prices to record highs.

Aggrieved landowners and land-users in Malen Chiefdom, Pujehun, call on Human Rights Commission to intervene against human rights violations by Paramount Chief and chiefdom authorities in Socfin operation area.

The results of pension funds’ alternative investments have been passable so far. In the case of farmland, at the end of last year the average total annual return over a 10 year period was more than 10%.

Over 150 community representatives from four counties in Liberia gathered to discuss their experiences and concerns regarding the impact of oil palm plantations on their livelihoods and communities.

Citizens at a conference in Bopolu expressed strong opposition to planned oil-palm development by Sime Darby in Gbarpolu County.

The Tanzanian government has agreed to put a ceiling with regard to what size of land a single large scale investor can be allocated for agriculture.

Continued economic uncertainties are prompting a back-to-the-land movement among investors. And a favored choice of land is farmland.

Could a recent farm workers dispute in, De Doorns, a wine region in the Western Cape in South Africa, become the agriculture equivalent of the Lonmin's platinum mine dispute?

“Every day I field calls from potential investors, from pension funds, from family businesses that want to buy” from inside and outside Canada, said Doug Emsley, president of Assiniboia Capital Corp.

By virtue of Dominion Farms’ responsibility to train young students in farming techniques in Kenya and then absorb them into the enterprise or equip them for owning their own enterprises, this is not your typical land-grabbing project, writes Tukeni Obasi

Former Nigerian president Obasanjo calls on African Union to develop a framework for managing foreign investment in agriculture, and says governments should consider a moratorium on large-scale land deals pending legislation to protect smallholder farmers.

A two-decade slump in Japan’s real estate prices, an incomplete land registry and lax rules on buying forest with water rights are attracting investors led by China.

African governments should use the proceeds from land leased to foreign investors to subsidize the cost to local farmers of modernizing their farming methods or to build infrastructure and improve production, according to researchers

Of the many issues brought to the table at the Slow Food joint Salone del Gusto and Terra Madre event this week in Turin, Italy, one of the most pressing is land-grabbing.

Currently reserved for Hungarians, farmlands will be available for purchase by foreigners from 2014. But as this EU imposed deadline looms, PM Viktor Orbán government is doing all it can to delay it. Meanwhile small farmers are battling with wealthy candidates, often close to sources of political power, for the most attractive lots.