May 12th, 2014
Via The African Renaissance, an article on African land acquisitions: Africa is up for sale by the acre to the highest bidder. But how can rice exports from Ethiopia to Saudi Arabia be justified? Land grabs have grabbed global attention. It’s on the agenda at the World Economic Forum this week, and as the trend for large[…]
Read more »The Global Land Grab: Modern Day Corporate Colonialism
April 26th, 2014
Via The Conversation, a look at 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,[…]
Read more »March 30th, 2014
Via the Los Angeles Times, a look at China’s growing appetite for overseas farmland: When Ma Wenfeng was a boy, his father earned so little money growing wheat and corn that the family mainly ate mantou, a steamed bread that is a staple of the poor. The last thing he would have dreamed of was[…]
Read more »Wall Street Investors Take Aim at Farmland
March 21st, 2014
Via Mother Jones, an interesting look at how Wall Street and corporations are starting to focus on acquiring farmland in the United States: Where’s the money? In a couple of posts last fall (here and here), I showed that corporations don’t do much actual farming in the United States. True, agrichemical companies like Monsanto and[…]
Read more »March 7th, 2014
Via the Myanmar Times, a report on land dispossession in Myanmar: The phrase “land grab” has become common in Myanmar, often making front page news. This reflects the more open political space available to talk about injustices, as well as the escalating severity and degree of land dispossession under the new government. A farmer spreads[…]
Read more »Is Africa’s Land Up For Grabs?
February 22nd, 2014
Via AllAfrica, an interesting article on land acquisitions in Africa: An apparent surge in the purchase of African land by foreign companies and governments to grow food and other crops for export has set alarm bells ringing on and off the continent. The headlines have been strident: “The Second Scramble for Africa Starts,” “Quest for[…]
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