Archive for September, 2012

US Farmers Scramble To Buy Brazil’s Farmland

Via Al Jazeera, a report on the trend of foreigners buying up prime agricultural land in Brazil and a look at how proposed legislation could curtail the booming trade:  Phil Corzine, a fourth-generation farmer from Illinois, is living the American dream, but it’s happening on dusty soy farms in the interior of Brazil, rather than […]

Read more »



Land Rush Leaves Liberia’s Farmers In The Dust

Via The Globe and Mail, a report on the impact of the new land rush in Liberia: A woman walks through an area only metres from her village of Nimba Point in Liberia that was forest and farmland only a few months ago. Residents are now faced with adjusting from an agriculture-based economy to a […]

Read more »



An African Growth Story: Agriculture

Courtesy of The Financial Times, a report on foreign investment in African agriculture: The public debate about the ethics of investing in farmland is being ignored by serious investors who seem to have had no qualms about buying up large tracts of land in Africa, according to a report in Monday’s FTfm. It could be […]

Read more »



The Arctic: The Next Great Land Grab?

Courtesy of The New York Times, a detailed look at the race for the North as melting ice reveals great natural resource treasures: At stake are the Arctic’s abundant supplies of oil, gas and minerals that are, thanks to climate change, becoming newly accessible along with increasingly navigable polar shipping shortcuts. This year, China has […]

Read more »



The Impact of Land, Water and Resource-grabbing On Food Security In Africa

Via Farmland Grab, a report on Obang Metho’s presentation to the 1st Africa Congress on Effective Cooperation for a Green Africa in Bremerhaven, Germany: Thank you for inviting me to address the 1st Africa Congress on Effective Cooperation for a Green Africa (ECOGA). It is a great honor for me to be here with you […]

Read more »



Global South Acquired By Investors

Two interesting graphics, one new and one old.  First, the old, via the Christian Science Monitor:  Then, the new, via Peter Giovanni: Land grabbing: what is it? Land grabbing is a term that describes the acquisition of farmland by companies, governments and individuals. In the last years the term has been used to refer to […]

Read more »


  |  Next Page »
About This Blog And Its Author
Seeds Of A Revolution is committed to defining the disruptive geopolitics of the global Farms Race.  Due to the convergence of a growing world population, increased water scarcity, and a decrease in arable land & nutrient-rich soil, a spike of international investment interest in agricultural is inevitable and apt to bring a heretofore domestic industry into a truly global realm.  Whether this transition involves global land leases or acquisitions, the fundamental need for food & the protectionist feelings this need can give rise to is highly likely to cause such transactions to move quickly into the geopolitical realm.  It is this disruptive change, and the potential for a global farms race, that Seeds Of A Revolution tracks, analyzes, and forecasts.

Educated at Yale University (Bachelor of Arts - History) and Harvard (Master in Public Policy - International Development), Monty Simus has long held a keen interest in natural resource policy and the geopolitical implications of anticipated stresses in the areas of freshwater scarcity, biodiversity reserves & parks, and farm land.  Monty has lived, worked, and traveled in more than forty countries spanning Africa, China, western Europe, the Middle East, South America, and Southeast & Central Asia, and his personal interests comprise economic development, policy, investment, technology, natural resources, and the environment, with a particular focus on globalization’s impact upon these subject areas.  Monty writes about freshwater scarcity issues at www.waterpolitics.com and frontier investment markets at www.wildcatsandblacksheep.com.