Archive for April, 2022

China’s Sets Its Eyes On World’s Last Frontier: The Ocean

Via Nikkei Asia, a report on Beijing’s strategic efforts to reap the economic potential of the world’s oceans.  A reminder that farms need not only be on the ground, but they may be within marine environments as well. Dealing with the Ukraine war and its evolving consequences, growing tensions in the Pacific, the still-unfolding disruption caused by […]

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UN: 40% of World’s Land Now Degraded

Via The Guardian, a report on how rising damage to our world’s land, caused mostly by food production, puts ability to feed planet’s growing population at risk: Human damage to the planet’s land is accelerating, with up to 40% now classed as degraded, while half of the world’s people are suffering the impacts, UN data […]

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Secret Acres: U.S. Soil Becoming Less and Less American In Terms of Ownership

Via InvestigateMidwest, an article on the US Government’s impaired ability to track agricultural land ownership: American soil is becoming less and less American when it comes to ownership. Foreign companies are snapping up land across the country, including millions of acres of farmland. But the conversation about foreign agricultural policy is difficult to have, according […]

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Foreign Investment In U.S. Cropland Nearly Tripled In Past Decade

Via Investigate Midwest, a report on the rapid growth of foreign investment in U.S. cropland in the past decade: Foreign investment in U.S. cropland has nearly tripled in the past decade, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture data. The total cropland controlled by foreign interests in 2020 was 10.9 million acres, up from 4.1 million […]

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Large-Scale land Acquisitions In Africa: Is Bigger Really Better?

Via Salaam Gateway, a look at whether large-scale land acquisitions in Africa really lead to more productivity: The 2007-2008 global food crises, caused by escalating oil prices; a greater request for biofuels and trade decisions, triggered an increased demand for fertile land and has resulted in internationally listed companies, investment funds and private investors entering […]

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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.