February 17th, 2015
Courtesy of the Wall Street Journal, a look at China’s impact on New Zealand’s agricultural sector: Ken and Patricia Graham have an unwelcome new neighbor on the farm where they retired to raise sheep and cattle and tend a vineyard—a gigantic Chinese-owned infant-formula factory. The US$165 million plant emblazoned with the company’s name—Yashili–in Chinese characters[…]
Read more »Investor Interest In Myanmar’s Rich Potential For Rice Growing
February 9th, 2015
Via The Nation, a report on Myanmar’s agricultural potential: Myanmar may go back to being one of the world’s major rice exporters in five to ten years, as many Thai and foreign investors are looking to expand in rice mills and farms in the country. Thai traders and experts all believe that Myanmar has great[…]
Read more »January 24th, 2015
Courtesy of the New York Times, a look at Africa, where farmers are vastly less productive than farmers elsewhere, a reality which needs to change in order for the continent to catch up economically: For decades, the economies of Africa were the world’s economic laggards. They aren’t anymore. Over the last decade, Africa’s per capita[…]
Read more »Barbarians At The Farm Gate: Investors Seek To Grow Their Money
January 5th, 2015
Via The Economist, a report on the growing trend of financiers buying and selling agricultural land, often overseas: IN THE next 40 years, humans will need to produce more food than they did in the previous 10,000 put together. But with sprawling cities gobbling up arable land, agricultural productivity gains decreasing, and demand for biofuels[…]
Read more »December 22nd, 2014
Via Fortune magazine, a sobering article on the world’s massive food crisis — so big that the World Bank and the United Nations say there won’t be enough food to feed the global population by 2050: The world has a massive food crisis on its hands. The crisis is so big that organizations like the[…]
Read more »Why Wall Street Investors And Chinese Firms Are Buying Farmland All Over The World
November 23rd, 2014
Via Vox, an interesting report on how Wall Street traders, Chinese state corporations, Gulf sheiks have been buying up farmland abroad: As the world’s population soars past 7 billion, farmland and freshwater are becoming increasingly valuable resources. And, in response, a growing number of companies and investors — Wall Street traders, Chinese state corporations, Gulf sheiks[…]
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