March 5th, 2016
Via The Financial Times, a look at accuracy of information on global land deals: How much land has been acquired for investment and agriculture over the past decade? The truth is nobody really knows. Non-government organisations, media and academic publications have been assessing so-called land deals – where outsiders acquire huge tracts of land for commercial use […]
Read more »The Great Land Rush: Investors Face Conflict In Quest For Farms
March 4th, 2016
Via The Financial Times, a look at how global market forces are coming into conflict with local populations as the commercial value of land increases: The Canada Pension Plan Investment Board is about as Canadian as an institution can be — except on the Saskatchewan prairie, where it has in effect been labelled an outsider. […]
Read more »March 2nd, 2016
Courtesy of The Financial Times, a look at how – across the globe – investors are betting billions on land, with a focus on Ethiopia, where a tycoon has planted a vast rice farm in soils tainted by years of conflict: As an orchestra of mosquitoes and crickets greeted the dusk, Bedlu Abera looked out over […]
Read more »The Hungry Dragon: Why China Is Spending $43 Billion For A Farming Company
February 18th, 2016
Via Foreign Policy, a report on the biggest overseas purchase in Chinese history which is meant to ensure the world’s largest country can keep feeding its people: China’s biggest-ever overseas acquisition, announced this month, isn’t about gobbling up resources to feed its industrial maw, broadening its financial leverage, or enhancing its strategic position. Rather, the […]
Read more »January 27th, 2016
Via Digital Journal, a report on Saudi Arabia’s interest in American farmland: In what looks to be a prelude to the “water wars,” Saudi Arabia has been buying up farmland in the southwestern part of the U.S. to grow alfalfa hay that is then shipped back to Saudi Arabia to feed its dairy cattle because […]
Read more »Missing The Big Picture In Challenging Africa’s “Land Grab” Narrative
January 4th, 2016
Via The Wilson Center, commentary on the global land grab: Who walks away from fertile agricultural land available to lease for as little as $1 per year per hectare? Recent reports indicate international investors are doing just that across sub-Saharan Africa. Investors began pouring into the continent with pockets full of cash and get-rich-quick dreams built on […]
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