"Africa will be more food insecure if these investments go to other parts of the world and Africa has to turn to those places to buy food," according to Dr Ousmane Badiane of IFPRI

At an agriculture investment summit in London on Wednesday, leading U.S. and European pensions funds said few assets remained immune from whipsawing markets, prompting institutions to look at farmland.

Part 2 of a report from the US-based National Public Radio on landgrabbing in Africa, highlighting the case of Mozambique

NPR takes a closer look at the reality behind the rhetoric, and went to Mozambique, a hot spot in the global rush for land.

As Europe's debt crisis rattles global equity market confidence farming is being increasingly championed by many as a sound, long-term bet for investors needing a safe haven for their money - particularly superannuation funds.

Between the farmers and Olam lies one of Lao’s most powerful, and some allege, corrupt families, the Siphandones.

Concerns about land grabbing stem from a desire to hold the government accountable when the drive to make Thailand the Kitchen of the World ends up destroying ecological systems, small farmers' livelihoods, and our food security.

Financial services group TIAA-CREF said it is partnering with Canadian and European money managers to form a $2 billion global farmland investing company to capitalize on the growing demand for grains and other agricultural products.

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.

Land rights are essentially political issues; but where women’s land rights are concerned, the solutions take on a legal dimension.

The World Bank is playing a leading role in a global land grab, says farmers' movement and its international allies.

Although the downfall of President Ravalomanana brought the Daewoo project to a halt, it did not end foreign investors' attempts to acquire land in Madagascar.

Gaia Vince reviews "The Land Grabbers", a new book by Fred Pearce

Wall Street has found its place on the farm. Prospects for profits tied to increasing food production are driving a proliferation of new niche investment vehicles focused on agriculture.

The scariest aspect of this unfolding phenomenon is that despite the foreseeable terrible consequences, the appetite among the rich countries to own a piece of this developing-country fertile land continues to grow, turning to an ugly competition.

Debates around farmland acquisition have focused mostly on how the phenomenon is playing out in the Global South. Much less attention has been paid to large-scale acquisitions of farmland in wealthier countries like Canada.

Farming is a sector that Insight Investment, a UK asset manager best known for its expertise in investing in corporate bonds and government debt, has begun to target.

An influx of foreign funds seeking Australian farmland has pushed lawmakers to consider legislation that would increase scrutiny of overseas purchases after foreign ownership of land almost doubled since 1984.

Si la France a perdu son triple A, ses banques et assurances profitent bien de la hausse des cours mondiaux des denrées alimentaires.

Rich soil, a tropical climate, and an abundance of water: the region of Gambela in the west of the country is fertile. Foreign investors are renting thousands of hectares of it to develop intensive agriculture without regard for the environment and the population, reports Le Monde.

Stephen Diggle plans to open his personal portfolio of farmlands in the US, Uruguay and New Zealand to investors and to pour money into Africa and eastern Europe as global food prices soar.

Citadel Capital, which owns farms in Egypt and Sudan, is expected to start talks with the China Investment Corporation next month.

Minutes from the Karuturi Global Limited Q2 FY2012 results conference call.

As the global financial downturn pushes investors into finding alternative business ventures, land investment has become an attractive proposition.

Pension funds and other corporate owners have spent only a tiny fraction of the billions of dollars they could invest in farmland, but they are definitely kicking the tires on potential purchases.

NGOs tried to get a pronouncement in the Changwon Declaration against the continued grabbing of land throughout Africa and Asia.

Russia’s VTB Capital plans $1bn agriculture fund which will begin by buying assets in Russia and Kazakhstan – from land to processing companies.

Husband and wife team founded Emergent Asset Management, which has led controversial farmland acquisitions in southern Africa.

A small but growing number of the world's wealthy are shoring up their portfolios with investments in forestry and farmland in an effort to take the sting from losses in more traditional assets as the financial crisis trundles on.

Foreign-investor purchases of farmland in poorer nations are displacing local populations and adding little to a country’s wealth, even as agricultural prices increase, according to Oxfam International.