November 12th, 2013
Via Ventures Africa, a look at foreign agricultural investment in Africa: Foreign investors are taking as much as they can from an impoverished nation, including its crops, land and the hard work of an Ethiopian population, to serve their own interests above others. According to the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), 14.56 million hectares of[…]
Read more »Twenty-First-Century Land Grabs
November 5th, 2013
Via Monthly Review, an interesting article on the global farms race: Land grabs—whether initiated by multinational corporations and private investment firms emanating from the capitalist core, sovereign wealth funds in the Middle East, or state entities such as China and India—are now in the news constantly.1 For example, in July 2013 the Colombian ambassador to[…]
Read more »October 29th, 2013
Via Foreign Affairs, commentary on the Sunset in Nuuk. Benedikte Vahl, a retired schoolteacher, has just one hope for Narsaq, her hometown of colorful wooden houses on a fjord in southern Greenland: that a mine will open soon in nearby Kuannersuit, bringing badly needed jobsand investment. Times are so tough that, over the past five[…]
Read more »Australia: Chinese Land Grab Hidden By Corporate Veil
October 29th, 2013
Via The Australian, an interesting look at Chinese investment in Australian farmland: CHINESE investors may own less than 1 per cent of Australian farmland, but the true level is not known because it is hidden behind a corporate veil, according to a new report that offers support to the establishment of a formal register of[…]
Read more »October 23rd, 2013
Via the International Bar Association, an interesting look at legal implications behind the rising demand for agricultural commodities has led to a ‘land grab’ in some of the world’s poorest countries: In 2008 riots erupted in cities across the developing world. Throughout 2007 and 2008 food prices had rocketed, bringing millions of people into hunger.[…]
Read more »Why China Is Hungry For Foreign Farmland
September 25th, 2013
Courtesy of National Geographic, a brief report on China’s hunger for foreign agricultural land: Farmland in Crimea, Ukraine, a portion of the 11,500 square miles recently bought by the Chinese government. China eats about 20 percent of the world’s food, reasonably expected for its 1.3 billion people. But the country only has nine percent of[…]
Read more »