Kuwaiti Investors Threaten Egypt With Lawsuit Over Land

Via Egypt’s Daily News, a report on a dispute between Kuwaiti investors who own farmland in Egypt and Egyptian authorities: Kuwaiti investors who own 26,000 acres of land in Ayat, Giza, intend to prosecute Egypt in international courts. In comments to Daily News Egypt, Hany Sarie-Eldin, head of Sarie-Eldin and Partners Legal Advisors, said the[…]

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The Global Land Grab: Modern Day Corporate Colonialism?

Via The Broker, commentary on the global land grab: The idea that there is a “land grab” taking place in developing nations began with the publication of a report,Seized!, by the NGO Grain. This rang an alarm bell about large-scale land acquisitions – particularly by a number of Asian countries and Gulf States, which are acquiring[…]

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When Wall Street Went To Africa

Via Foreign Policy, an interesting report on a New York tycoon who won a sweetheart deal to build a massive “sustainable” palm oil plantation in Cameroon: At the main gate of the Herakles Farms plantation, a large billboard reads, “Contributing to a sustainable future for Cameroon.” The gate is little more than a bamboo pole[…]

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‘Land Grabbing’ Could Help Feed at Least 300 Million People, Study Suggests

Via the University of Virginia, a new report on the global land grab: Crops grown on “land-grabbed” areas in developing countries could have the potential to feed an extra 100 million people worldwide, a joint study involving the University of Virginia shows. The large-scale acquisition of land by foreign governments and business – more commonly[…]

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The Next Breadbasket: Why Big Corporations Are Grabbing Up Land On The Planet’s Hungriest Continent

Courtesy of National Geographic, a report on big business’ interest in African farmland: Using hand tools and draft animals, a family harvests wheat in Ethiopia’s famine-prone highlands. Education has helped small farmers become more efficient, but wheat yields are still a third below the world’s average. With more than a third of Ethiopians malnourished, the[…]

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Water Grabs

Via Farmland Grab, a look at what some call water grabs: In a world running out of accessible water, the question of control looms large. Is water a human right, a public trust and common heritage or a commodity to be put on the open market like oil and gas? Water grabs The fear over[…]

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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.