China’s giant sovereign wealth fund is looking to make its first significant investment in the Australian dairy industry, as it tries to lock up food ­supplies for its growing middle class.

"Investing in Farmland and Feeding the World," was discussed at an interactive session at the 65th CFA Institute Annual Conference in Chicago last week.

Investment managers meeting at the Waldorf Astoria in New York said rising US farmland prices were making it harder to find quality land and high returns, and a lot of capital flow is moving to developing nations.

A group of twenty Dutch companies visited Juba this week, looking for business opportunities. In the South Sudanese capital they bumped into a 50-member strong delegation from Japan, who was there for exactly the same purpose. Meanwhile, the Indians are on their way.

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.

New Zealand’s overseas investment regime will be on the US’ hit list during the Trans Pacific Partnership talks this week.

Farmers from the developing world called on governments this week to curb a global land rush in which millions of hectares of their terrain are being taken over by foreign private investors.

A visit last week by Saudi Arabian businessmen could result in $300 million in investments to develop 20,000 hectares of farm lands for commercial crops.

UNECA coordinator says the way land investment has taken place in Africa has had unintended consequences of pushing people off the land, while the land has not been used for production.

Australians will get a chance to own a 20 per cent stake in the country's largest landholder, S. Kidman & Co, alongside large Chinese investors, after a deal was struck this week to buy the iconic cattle business for more than $370 million.

The Ethiopian Investment Agency (EIA) has withdrawn 3,000 investment permits that it had previously granted to Ethiopian and foreign companies, including Karuturi Global Ltd.

Bonnefield Financial, a farmland investment company based in Ottawa, announced this week that it has acquired about 6,500 acres of lush Dufferin County potato fields in what it called one of the largest farmland transactions in Canadian history.

On his farm at Coleambally, NSW, John Ward admits he is feeling emotional about how foreign investment into Australian agricultural land has been handled.

Overseas buyers may boost investment in agriculture assets in Australia, the fourth-biggest shipper of wheat, as they seek to secure supply to meet surging food demand, said Queensland Sugar Ltd. Chairman Alan Winney.

So many Wall Street-types crammed the Waldorf Astoria in New York City last week for a global farmland and agribusiness conference that hosts warned the crowd of 600 not to block the fire exits.

While investment is critical for agriculture, the rush into long-term land leases is a dramatic step with many risks and substantial social and environmental costs

While the Bank warns of a lack of transparency and the potential harm to poor people, it ultimately endorses the land grabs in the name of productivity and sound investment.

A rush of foreign investment interest in Australian farmland is stirring new concerns about just how much overseas ownership of local agricultural resources is too much.

Tadco has visited the Kalumbarak Skyline Village in Malungon town, Philippines, with the intention of putting up a multimillion dollar worth agricultural investment.

Investment in agriculture is soaring. So, worryingly, is distrust of markets and trade.

The ministerial Forum on China-Africa Cooperation met in Sharm el-Sheik, Egypt, last week, attended by Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and representatives of more than 300 Chinese companies.

Janan, a UAE agricultural investment firm, will expand its farmland portfolio in a deal with Egyptian agricultural authorities next week.

Pakistan dramatically increased the amount of farmland open to foreign investors to six million acres, but will require outsiders to share half of their crop with local growers, Pakistan’s investment minister told Reuters.

Findings from the Federal Government’s latest annual Foreign Ownership of Agricultural Land Register released last week show the total area of ag land with a level of offshore ownership has fallen just 0.3 percent from 47.7 million hectares to 47.56m ha last year.

The pair will turn 36k hectares of land in the town of Timimoun in south central Algeria into a productive agricultural field to grow wheat, beans, and other crops, while 49% of the funding will come from Algeria’s investment fund and BF will provide the remaining funds.

The secrecy behind much-touted China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) now lies in tatters with details of how China is plotting the economic takeover of Pakistan published early this week. Major thrust areas of this plan will hugely affect Pakistani agriculture sector.

Last week a Saudi delegation has requested 100,000 hectares to invest in alfalfa plant (livestock food) integrated project and in livestock processing.

Wall Street remains enamored with US and international farmland, speakers at a Farm Foundation meeting in Louisville said last week.

Cima Coffee Farms this week announced it has officially launched as a standalone real estate concern dedicated to the sales of prime agricultural property

The Chinese government has long encouraged businesses to invest in agriculture abroad, and Xi Jinping's first foreign trip as president in the past week involved visits to three African countries.