US private equity firm Proterra Investment Partners, which owns significant farmland assets in Australia, says farmland investing is going strong, both among domestic and foreign investors

Foreign ownership of farmland in some states has surged to as high as 25 per cent as China maintains its position as Australia's most powerful foreign investor.

The Australian government is deferring until after an upcoming federal election a politically sensitive decision on whether to allow the sale of one of the country's biggest cattle empires, S. Kidman & Co, to a Chinese-led consortium.

The ANZ bank has agreed to provide a financial package to Cambodian families forcibly displaced by a sugar company the Australian bank loaned money to in 2011.

The amount of agricultural land owned by Chinese interests has soared above 3 million hectares, more than double the 1.46 million declared by the Australian Taxation Office last month, according to a Fairfax Media analysis of reported land sales.

In debate over large scale investments in agriculture in Australia, there are some broader issues about foreign investment that don’t seem to get talked about enough.

Australian farmland manager Gunn Agri Partners has acquired 6,000 hectares of land for its Transforming Farming Platform, backed by the Australian government-owned clean energy finance corporation and Dutch asset manager Kempen.

The Australian operating arm of Shanghai CRED, known as Shanghai Zenith, has agreed to purchase eight properties in the Goldfields, Kimberley and Wheatbelt for around $20 million.

Australians are in danger of becoming servants, not masters, of their own food resources.

Senator Bill Heffernan and the managing director of the Australian Agricultural Company David Farley join The Business to discuss overseas investment in Australia.

Australia will force all foreign investors to register their agricultural holdings from Wednesday as scrutiny on overseas investment increases.

Commodities trader Jim Rogers, known for his investment prowess alongside George Soros, is in Australia to launch a new rural land fund which is seeking to raise up to $350 million to buy farms in northern NSW

The Australian Nationals senator Barnaby Joyce is pushing for even tougher restrictions on foreign ownership of farmland and agribusinesses than those advocated by his party, fuelling Liberal anger at Tony Abbott's failure to rein in National Party ''freelancing'' on sensitive economic issues.

Inclusive Development International sent a letter of complaint to the Australian Government outlining how ANZ was a part financier of a sugar plantation in Cambodia which saw almost 700 families forcibly evicted.

Investors are thinking big when it comes to farmland purchases, reports Andrew Shirley in Knight Frank's Wealth Report 2011

PSP Investments has been doubling down on capital commitments in Australia’s ag sector – and particularly in almonds and water recently.

Chinese fertilizer producer Hubei Xinyangfeng has secured its first allotment of farmland outside of China, after it purchased a farm in southern New South Wales, Australia.

The Australian government's Clean Energy Finance Corporation has committed up to $30 million to a carbon farming fund that seeks to expand its existing 100,000-acre landholding to 500,000 acres.

A Chinese conglomerate and Australia’s largest beef producer are amongst contenders vying for rights to farm an agricultural area equal in size to 21,000 soccer pitches in Western Australia.

Foreign companies from Korea, Qatar, US, UK and China are "secretly" buying up large chunks of NSW farmland by establishing shelf companies, trust funds, and extended settlements to avoid scrutiny.

New Forests and Alberta Investment Management Corporation have agreed to buy Lawson Grains, which owns a 90,500 hectare agricultural land estate across New South Wales and Western Australia.

Al Dahra Agriculture says deal will give it access to a strategic growers and suppliers base, in addition to farming land in Western Australia

Through Macquarie Asset Management, PFJC will invest in farmland with various crops, such as wheat, beans, cotton and avocados on farmlands spread across eastern and western Australia.

Terra Firma, founded by British multi-millionaire Guy Hands, has owned CPC since 2009 when it paid James Packer and partners about $425m for what was then a 5.6m hectare estate.

Australia risks losing an opportunity to become a farmyard for Asia, as growing unease over foreigners buying rural land threatens to provoke protectionist policies.

While foreign investment is nothing new in the Australian sugar industry, the rate at which foreign companies have been pouring money into the industry has caused some concern among canegrowers.

New research reveals grain growers in Western Australia are overwhelmingly supportive of foreign investment.

Nearly 12,000 hectares (30,000 acres) of orchards will be sold to Adveq Almond Trust, owned by a group of investors led by Adveq Real Assets Harvested Resources LP.

Governments in a number of countries are trying to address concerns about land grabbing by closing their borders to foreign investors. Are these restrictions effective? Not really, says GRAIN.

New Zealand-based agency Bayleys is putting together a portfolio of overseas property opportunities, including farms, to take on a roadshow to South East Asia, Europe and Britain.