New fund reflects desire in Beijing to acquire real assets, including agricultural lands, say analysts.

Swedish pensions money is threatening the livelihoods of small farming communities in Brazil and risk speeding up the devastation of the rainforest.

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

There is a lot of focus on the growing global population and what it means for food demand. One result sees investors taking notice of returns on resources that provide food, including farmland.

With opportunities in neighboring countries almost finished and due to the expensive land, Brazilian agriculture has started showing up in Africa, here and there, but promising to grow.

Land rights activists have been expressing their fears and concerns about the malicious trend of selling or leasing large farmland to foreign multinational companies and governments.

Unfortunately, given the global nature of capital, even if the US were to completely shut down speculation, it would just move offshore.

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.

The idea of combining the greed of investors with the fight against hunger as a mutually beneficial business venture has failed miserably

China's most powerful agricultural company, Beidahuang Group, is looking to acquire 80,000 hectares of Western Australia farmland, with several farmers on the verge of signing.

Nirmal Seeds wants not more than 30,000 hectares of land in Tanzania to invest in seeds production to feed the local market.

Last week, Uganda received a 35 man business delegation from India interested in the country’s agribusiness potential and boosting its exploits. Mr Ramakrishna Karuturi, the leader of the delegation, said the team intends to invest up to $2 billion in agribusiness pending the issue of investment licences.

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.

The government has not presented satisfactory and truthful explanations about its actions, let alone credible defense of its role as agency and facilitator of the abominable practices of farmland grabbing.

Within agriculture, conflicts revolve around land and water sources ownership and use. The case of Karatu Kiru valley sugarcane farming where one of the investors was killed by local community on May 31, 2011 serves as an illustration

Some pension funds are beginning to question their investments in commodities after accusations that massive flows into the sector have distorted markets, fuelled food inflation and hurt poor nations.

A new report published this week claims farmers in Africa are being driven off their traditional lands to make way for vast new industrial farming projects backed by European hedge funds seeking profits and foreign countries looking for cheap food.

Land is a powerful commodity that should be used for the betterment of humanity through farming and ecology.

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.

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

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.

A new report from the Samsung chaebol advocates a Korean domestic and international food revolution

Moise Katumbi, governor of mineral-rich Katanga province in the Democratic Republic of Congo, has offered 14 million hectares of farmland to large-scale farmers to boost agriculture.

Black River's investment pipeline includes a Chinese pork producer and distributor, a duck farming firm in northern China, a fish producer in Costa Rica and a frozen fish processor in Singapore.

There is a jobs cow waiting to be milked in Africa. It is agriculture and agri-business, says World Bank VP of Africa Region

The issue of land grabbing has been on the agenda for some years now, but it seems that the academic focus is changing.

Ethiopia is on sale. Everybody is getting a piece of her. For next to nothing. The land vultures have been swooping down on Gambella from all parts of the world.

Since the food and financial crisis in 2008, a race for arable land has started worldwide. States, corporations, banks and funds of rich countries buy up large chunks of land to produce agrofuels and grow crops for food - or just to speculate.

Internationally-funded Guatemalan palm oil and sugar cane interests evict Mayan Qeqchi families from their historic lands, destroying homes and crops, killing one, injuring more, while thousands are without food or shelter.

Investors are buying Canadian agricultural land, betting that rising food prices, a ballooning global population and growing worldwide scarcities in farmland will mean a payoff for them.