Author Archive

State Lawmakers Move To Ban Chinese Land Ownership

Via The Washington Post, a report on how 81 bills were introduced in 33 states this year to restrict Chinese land ownership: In Washington, the White House and federal lawmakers are pursuing ways to constrain Chinese-owned businesses like TikTok amid a bipartisan push to limit China’s reach. Now state legislators have embraced a novel, locally focused […]

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China Expands Farmland In Bid To Cut Foreign Food Reliance

Courtesy of The Financial Times,  a report on China’s efforts to expand farmland in a bid to reduce its reliance on foreign food: In the western Chinese city of Chengdu, once popular hotpot restaurant Star Shining in the Clouds has closed its doors for the last time, one of several businesses to shut as the […]

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Buying the Heartland

Courtesy of The Wire China, a look at whether the U.S. needs to protect its farmland from China: Dana Sande sat slumped in his chair an hour into the Grand Forks city council meeting on February 6. With his tie strewn to the side, Sande, the president of the city council, looked fatigued and even […]

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Russia: Weaponizing Global Food Security

Via Fortune Magazine, commentary on Russia’s weaponization of global food security in its war: The food crisis that occurred last year could be re-ignited. Russia has decided to withdraw from the UN-brokered deal that allowed Ukraine to export since August about 33 million metric tonnes of grains across the Black Sea and launched major attacks on Ukraine’s infrastructure. If that […]

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Wagner Aside, Russia Exerts Soft Power Through Fertilizer

Via The Africa Report, a look at how Russia exerts soft power in Africa through fertilizer: Already a key security player in Africa via the Wagner Group, Russia is also leveraging its fertiliser exports. The Wagner group, active in the security and mining sectors, spearheads Russia’s presence on the continent, particularly in West Africa. But […]

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Russia Declares War on Wheat, Peas, and Barley

Courtesy of Foreign Policy, a report on how Moscow used to bang shoes to get attention, but now it blows up grain warehouses: Russia escalated its war on Ukraine’s grain exports again this week, sending wheat prices soaring and threatening to exacerbate global hunger as it seeks to blockade one of the world’s foremost breadbaskets. […]

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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.