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[…]
Read more »Will Scarcity Lead To Anarchy In China?
December 15th, 2015
Via Foreign Policy In Focus, some commentary on how the steady track towards stability and prosperity that China and most developing countries seem to be on is driven by a new form of self-reliance: Renowned American journalist Robert D. Kaplan warned the West that, in the light of the quick deterioration of the arable land quality[…]
Read more »November 20th, 2015
Courtesy of the New York Times, a report on a prohibited land sale in Australia: A government ban on foreign investors buying a pioneering dynasty’s collection of cattle ranches has scuttled Australia’s biggest land sale, an official said on Friday. The government announced on Thursday it had barred foreigners from buying S. Kidman & Co.[…]
Read more »TIAA-CREF, U.S. Investment Giant, Accused Of Land Grabs In Brazil
November 17th, 2015
Courtesy of the New York Times, an article on TIAA-CREF’s forays into the Brazilian agriculture: As an American investment giant that manages the retirement savings of millions of university administrators, public school teachers and others, TIAA-CREF prides itself on upholding socially responsible values, even celebrating its role in drafting United Nations principles for buying farmland that promote transparency, environmental[…]
Read more »November 5th, 2015
Via Bloomberg, a report on Saudi Arabia’s plans to import all the wheat needed for 2016 consumption beacause aquifers used to irrigate crops are depleting rapidly: Cultured farms in sit in Saudi Arabia. For decades, only a few features punctuated the vastness of the Saudi desert: oil wells, oases — and wheat fields. Despite torrid weather[…]
Read more »The Myth of the African Land Grab
October 20th, 2015
Via Foreign Policy, an interesting commentary on foreign investment in African farmland: Over the past few years, the media has breathlessly chronicled anAfrican land rush of mind-boggling scale and audacity. Highlights have included the handover of over 300,000 hectares of Ethiopia to a singleIndian company and a notorious incident in which Madagascar announced the transfer of nearly half[…]
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