April 28th, 2023
Via Gateway to South America, commentary on Brazil’s ascension to the global soyabean lead: After a half-century of dominance, the U.S. is losing its edge in agriculture to a booming, high-tech Latin American powerhouse. Its secret weapon? Soyabeans. A big swath of soya-producing lands that stretch between the Andes and the Atlantic forest and from […]
Read more »Grain Trade Turbulence
April 27th, 2023
Courtesy of Geopolitical Futures, a look at how Ukraine’s exports are dividing the West and strengthening Russia’s hand: The grain trade is in trouble again. The United Nations is trying to preserve the international agreement, set to expire May 18, that enables the export of Ukrainian grain from Black Sea ports, but Russia has signaled […]
Read more »April 21st, 2023
Via Foreign Policy, a report on Chinese farmland and a threat from within: Former U.S. President Ronald Reagan offered his “lesson number one about America” in his farewell address to the nation: “All great change in America begins at the dinner table.” The same is true in China. One of the first steps of the […]
Read more »Assets to Axes: How Harvard’s Land Investments Inspired Fear in Brazil’s Cerrado
April 18th, 2023
Via Harvard Crimson, a detailed look at how Harvard’s former landholdings – many of which remain concealed behind a complex web of private equity firms, associated subsidiary companies and investment partners – contributed to a climate of anxiety, fear, and strain on Brazilian subsistence farmers: One morning in 2015, Ariomara “Mara” Alves Pessoa woke up […]
Read more »April 18th, 2023
Via FarmlandGrab, a report on Korean interest in Uzbek agricultural land: Deputy Minister of Agriculture of the Republic of Uzbekistan Umid Mamadaminov met with the leadership of the cotton and textile cluster, created on the basis of investments from the Korean corporation POSCO International. During the meeting, company representatives presented plans to expand activities in […]
Read more »Seeds Of Change: When The Tortillas Run Out
April 15th, 2023
Courtesy of The Economist, a look at how crazy policies and climate change are hurting Latin American agriculture and driving migration and conflict: When billions of black bugs invaded Buenos Aires in March, locals were mystified. Social media buzzed with queries. They turned out to be thrips, leaf-munching insects escaping from the drought-denuded Argentine countryside […]
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