Inflation and the spectre of long-term food shortages have prompted the UAE Government to consider a new strategic investment – the purchase of large-scale farms in Pakistan and other countries.

Kernel, one of Ukraine’s largest agribusiness groups, has acquired a major agricultural holding with 41,000 hectares of farmland and a network of grain elevators, in a deal valued at over $100mn, the company confirmed this week.

Last week, hundreds of Sudanese protested in Eastern Khartoum demanding the government revoke the sale of farming lands to Gulf investors. There is no logical reason behind these demonstrations except ignorance of the reality of the GCC approach, says economist.

A new report is released this week to coincide with the forthcoming international conference on the global land grab to be held at IDS, University of Sussex.

In the past week, the alleged claim by Egypt’s Agriculture minister Amin Abaza that Uganda offered his country over 2 million acres of fertile land to produce wheat to feed the Arab nation’s 81 million people has rattled Ugandans.

FCC has convened a coalition of more than 20 investment organizations, including venture capital, private equity and Royal Bank of Canada. It will connect these investors to opportunities in land acquisition, manufacturing and new ag-tech startups, among other projects.

The investment with the BTG Pactual Timberland Investment Group (BTG Pactual TIG) - one of the world's largest timberland investment management organizations - focuses on the conservation, restoration, and planting of deforested and degraded properties.

NFFC says that a new “land grab” is underway in the US, with Wall Street investors, pension funds, and other financiers looking for a safe place to park their money and turning to farmlands as their preferred investment.

The South African Government Employees Pension Fund and the country's Public Investment Corporation are invested in a Congolese palm oil business linked to past human rights abuses and land expropriation.

The Public Investment Fund has transferred its ownership stakes in Almarai, the National Agricultural Development Company, and the Saudi Fisheries Company to the Saudi Agricultural and Livestock Investment Company (SALIC).

Overall, nearly $5b of sensitive land has changed hands in New Zealand through the Overseas Investment Office since the Labour-led government was formed.

China's investment in foreign agricultural projects is booming, according to statistics peddled by Chinese agricultural officials during "Belt and Road" summit held in Beijing.

The flood of investment over the last several years means that agricultural land itself is being treated more and more like a profitable financial asset, instead of a productive natural resource.

Canada Pension Plan Investment Board has decided against making further investments in farmland and is open to selling its existing portfolio, a shift in strategy after some local farmers voiced concerns.

The government has allocated 60,000 ha of land for investment in large-scale commercial farming for sugar and rice in the Mkulazi area, 60 kilometres from the Dar es Salaam - Morogoro highway.

Teays River Investments, LLC, a big farmland and agribusiness investment company opted to sell two irrigated strawberry and vegetable cropland holdings, purchased just a few years ago, at a $650,000 loss.

Trade deal with South Korea cuts the value of Australian farmland purchases that attract scrutiny from the Foreign Investment Review Board from $53 million to $15m.

Large scale privatization of state-owned agricultural lands in Georgia has the potential to trigger violence and social unrest of far graver consequences for investment – foreign and domestic – into the national economy than the notorious moratorium.

The Foreign Investment in Real Property Tax Act was first passed in 1980 by Congress to limit foreign control over US farmland. Obama now wants things changed.

The Beidahuang Group has been dismayed by what it regards as negative media coverage of its investment in agricultural land in Australia and plans to scale back while it still purchases more farms.

A new report from the Oakland Institute examines a controversial land investment deal in Sierra Leone. Pambazuka News caught up with its Policy Director to find out why the report has attracted so much attention.

Agricultural analyst at Citi Investment Research, Tim Mitchell, recently calculated that "rural raiders" from overseas had spent "well in excess of $12 billion" over the past four years on Australian agribusinesses and farms.

Australia's left-leaning Greens party on Friday called for foreign investment laws to be beefed up to cover farming land and water licenses, fearing too much was falling into overseas hands.

The world’s second-oldest profession–farming–is a hot investment

Food investments may drive Qatar's sovereign wealth fund to look at Latin America as an important investment destination

China is gearing up for a multi-billion-dollar investment push into the Australian agricultural sector to secure food supplies after a senior official admitted the country would face pressure supplying farm produce to its 1.3 billion people over the next five years.

As foreign investors in Russia are all too aware, there is a perennial conflict within the country’s political elite on how to balance the need for foreign investment and outside technology with an impulse to maximize state control over sectors that carry outsized economic or social significance.

Prime Minister John Key yesterday warned of other potential foreign buyers of large tracts of New Zealand farmland lining up behind the Hong Kong company bidding for the Crafar farms as his Government signalled a new focus on overseas investment rules.

As the Caribbean and the rest of the world are still grappling with the global food crisis, Guyana is seeking to sell its vast land and water resources to United States investors as an area suitable for agriculture and aquaculture investment.

As Mideast investors make plans to pump cash into farm projects in the developing world, the head of the United Nations' food agency said he is discouraging them from making direct purchases of farmland to avoid local backlash or other controversy, which could cause the investment trend to dry up.