Ministers' Communiqué from the Global Forum for Food and Agriculture – Berlin, January 19th 2013

An international coalition of NGOs and research groups has published the world's largest database of land grab deals struck since 2000, offering unprecedented detail on who's investing, where and what for.

Global Economic Symposium, to be held 4-6 October in Kiel, Germany, will have a special session on land grabbing.

Global property consultancy Knight Frank says 83% of the wealth managers in Kenya it asked about investment trends said their clients are now investing in farmland primarily for food production.

New research studied 160 large-scale land acquisitions made between 2005 and 2015 across Europe, South America, Africa and Asia looking at how much of this land acquisition would cause competition and water grabbing.

Serious trade tension between two key players in global agricultural trade, China and US could bring major lose-lose outcomes for both parties and lead to a new wave of land grabs.

Two Chinese media firms – China Agriculture Film and Television Center and Global Max Media Group – co-hosted the China Africa Agriculture Co-operation and Development Summit in Lusaka.

Research commissioned by the EP’s human rights committee analyses the global land rush from a human rights perspective, and shows that the EU clearly needs to improve how it ensures compliance with human right obligations in projects that it funds.

The global rush to buy farmland continues, and international investors are focusing on the poorest countries with weak land-rights security for deals, according to a report by the Land Matrix research group.

The German Institute of Global and Area Studies (GIGA) invites submissions for an international conference on large-scale agricultural investments on 11 May 2012 in Hamburg, Germany.

Responsible agricultural investment should recognise and respect land and related resource rights, says head of the research and information department at South Africa’s Industrial Development Corporation

China’s global scramble for natural resources is leading to a transformation of agricultural trading around the world.

At the Global Landscapes Forum Investment Case Symposium land tenure was the primary issue that was repeatedly pointed to by members of the research, development and finance communities alike as the biggest risk for landscape investment.

Can contemporary large-scale land investments play a role in reducing poverty and inequality? If so, what influences the outcomes? A new research project is gathering data on three farming models – contract farming, plantations and commercial farming areas – in Ghana, Kenya and Zambia.

Head of global investment strategy at HSBC Private Bank says: 'I wouldn’t use the expression land grab. But I would say this is very much something you would invest in on a minimum 10-year horizon.'

A new study in Environmental Research Letters finds that at least 126 countries are now involved in purchasing or selling global farmland.

New research from War on Want reveals that the UK government’s Department for International Development (DFID) has been using the aid budget to promote the interests of multinational food companies in Africa.

Australians are entitled to test and scrutinise the benefits of foreign acquisitions to ensure they are in our national interest and, importantly, safeguard Australia’s role in global food security.

We need to hear the results of research and case studies done by FAO, UNCTAD, IFAD and the World Bank, so we can respond as governments and organizations based on solid information and not hearsay.

A Kuwaiti company partly owned by the emirate's sovereign wealth fund is preparing to join other Gulf states in buying up agricultural land in Asia, part of a global land grab to ensure food security.

Research shows that the plantation model of development has failed to deliver promised benefits to Liberia’s rural people and that they benefit far more from retaining their traditional lands.

Ethiopia’s development of Chinese-backed sugar plants in the country’s south, part of a plan to become one of the world’s top 10 exporters, is struggling because of a lack of funding and technical expertise, a research group said.

An estimated 70.2 million hectares of agricultural land worldwide have been sold or leased to private and public investors since 2000, according to new research conducted for our Vital Signs Online service.

The International Food Policy Research Institute said 15 million to 20 million hectares of farmland in poor nations were sold since 2006, or were under negotiation for sale to foreign entities.

Indonesia sits at the heart of the global palm oil trade. In 2002, one company PT Erasakti Wira Forestama (EWF) offered villagers in Batanghari, Jambi province a one-time payment for their land. Peatlands were converted to plantations — and the repercussions of the decision are still felt today. Some villager

Philippines company will contribute its hybrid rice varieties to the venture while the Myanmar partner will provide the land for production and the Thai partner will handle global marketing.

The US-based Worldwatch Institute recommends three considerations to help guide global land transactions to promote mutual benefit.

Bunge Limited, a premier global agribusiness and food company in the US, has recently announced plans to acquire 25,000 acres in Sao Paulo, Brazil, from the local firm Acucar Guarani to grow cane for its sugar and ethanol mills.

Export bans during last year's food crisis hurt global confidence in trade and helped push investors to buy up farmland in developing nations, an official from the United Nations' food agency said on Tuesday.

Food-importing nations from South Korea to Saudi Arabia may step up purchases or leases of overseas farmland to lock in supplies amid concern prices may again surge. “We’re going to see more of this, especially from countries that are quite dependent on imports,” Brady Sidwell, head of advisory at Rabobank Groep NV’s Northeast Asia Food & Agribusiness Research and Advisory Group, said in a Bloomberg Television interview broadcast today.