As the farmland REIT sector grows, Sustainable Economies Law Center is busy researching and piloting alternative models of farmland ownership that prioritize racial equity, ecological sustainability, and long-term stewardship.

According to a report released today by leading environmental and social justice advocates, the investment management firm TIAA is leading a trend of speculating in land markets, which drives up farmland prices and displaces family farmers.

A coalition of environmental, human rights and family farm organizations delivered a letter with over 100,000 signatures to pension fund management company TIAA, expressing concerns over the company’s investments in farmland and palm oil.

Peasants in Honduras have sued a branch of the World Bank over its financing of the corporation Dinant, which has vast palm oil plantations in Bajo Aguán valley

Cape Town-based Polar Star Management Ltd plans to use its own money to buy small farms and processing companies in South Africa this year.

Three years later after going into receivership, hopes of revival are a withering prospect and hundreds of families that once formed a thriving community revolving around the Naivasha-based company are living in squalor.

This notorious palm oil industry has now expanded to Myanmar with devastating consequences for human rights and the environment

Eritrean law blocking foreign investors from owning land and the country's desire for self-reliance makes it highly unlikely that it will fall for the neocolonial phenomenon of land grabbing.

Montreal-based Fiera Capital Corp. is taking the next step in its aggressive expansion plans that include adding agriculture and private equity to its current asset class offerings.

The portfolio, once considered a crown jewel in the endowment, is vast with assets including timberland plantations in Central and South America, a dairy farm in New Zealand, and vineyards in California.

Bain & Company analysis has identiied four approaches that public companies are taking to invest in agriculture.

Preqin estimates that more than 100 unlisted agriculture/farmland-focused funds have closed since 2006, raising about $22 billion in aggregate capital.

Milltrust has a 10 year, billion dollar program to establish farms in the southern hemisphere to produce rice, wheat, corn and barley, as well as new cash crops that will provide feedstock for animals.

European Union (EU) corporate and financial entities involved in land grabbing may be implicated in a variety of human rights abuses.

"Money is still being pumped into the sector almost regardless of geography," says director of Primer International.

Glencore Plc agreed to sell just-under a 10 percent stake in its agriculture unit to Canada’s British Columbia Investment Management Corp. for $624.9 million in cash as it continues to cut debt.

A Ugandan group of more than 100 farmers lost their land to Bidco and now a coalition of activists are launching a new platform, No2Bidco.org, to chart Bidco abuses.

Russia’s geopolitical conflicts, anemic oil prices and weakened ruble are working out rather well for the country’s biggest publicly traded farming company, which trades on the London Stock Exchange.

Australia’s largest pastoral cattle empire, S. Kidman and Co., has agreed to be sold to a Chinese-led consortium for 370.7 million Australian dollars (US$287.3 million), continuing a flurry of deals in the country’s agricultural sector. Earlier proposed deal was rejected by the government last year.

Global demand for agricultural land has increased 14-fold since the 2008 spike in global food prices. With that comes increasing cases of land grab, violence, and force eviction. Why every actor that could have prevent that is becoming increasingly powerless to do so.

Financial investors own tracts that grow maize and soya beans in Illinois and Uruguay, almonds and cattle in Australia, and sugar beets and wheat in Poland. Some are venturing into countries with potentially volatile politics, such as Ethiopia and Ukraine.

Ernst Janovsky, head of agribusiness at Barclays Africa, says curbs on foreign land ownership in many countries are the biggest deterrent to attracting foreign capital.

Analytical evaluation of effect of current land grabbing policy indicates destabilization of livelihood assets of rural communities of Oromia and Southern Ethiopia.

Farmers on Palawan are being tricked into giving land away to palm oil companies with local government support. Those who resist the land grabs are now in fear for their lives following the murder of a prominent campaigner.

An agricultural investment advisor predicts international companies wanting to buy Australian farmland could be scared off by changes to the threshold for scrutiny by the Foreign Investment Review Board.

Une société new-yorkaise chargée de la gestion de l'épargne-retraite des travailleurs en Suède, aux États-Unis et au Canada se soustrait aux lois brésiliennes sur les investissements étrangers pour acquérir des terres agricoles

A New York company managing the retirement savings of workers in Sweden, the US and Canada is evading Brazilian laws on foreign investment to acquire farmlands from a businessman accused of violently displacing local communities.

Despite their due diligence, Rabobank missed the fact that they were buying land in a village racked with corruption and land rights abuse, and from sellers deeply involved in murky business.

Investigation finds Rabobank acquired farmlands in Romania that had been sold without the knowledge or consent of the farmer owners.

The level of Chinese investment in the Australian beef supply chain appears certain to increase as China hunts for new food sources to feed its one and half billion citizens. Nine Chinese companies have outlaid almost $430 million on Australian beef cattle holdings and downstream red meat supply chain.