In Colombia, An Alleged American Land Grab Sets Off A Political Storm

Via TIME Magazine, an interesting article on Cargill’s acquisition of land in Colombia: Was it a good-faith investment by a U.S. multinational in Colombia? Or a flagrant land grab? That’s what Colombians are debating following revelations that the Minneapolis-based food giant Cargill Inc. acquired nearly 130,000 acres of former government land that had been donated […]

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The Hungry Dragon: China’s Farms Go Global

Courtesy of The Diplomat, a look at China’s overseas investment in agricultural ventures: If the Chinese government is to achieve its goal of accelerated urbanization, one issue it must deal with is food security. Already, as China has developed more of its land, concerns have developed over whether enough arable land will be available to […]

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Indonesia: Experiencing A ‘New Corporate Colonialism’ ?

Courtesy of The Guardian, a look at concerns that multinational companies have been encouraged to seize and deforest land owned by indigenous people in Indonesia: Land conflicts between farmers and plantation owners, mining companies and developers have raged across Indonesia as local and multinational companies have been encouraged to seize and then deforest customary land […]

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China’s India Land Grab

Via Project Syndicate , an interesting commentary on China’s recent intrusion into Indian territory: Stoking tensions with Japan, Vietnam, and the Philippines over islands in the South and East China Seas has not prevented an increasingly assertive China from opening yet another front by staging a military incursion across the disputed, forbidding Himalayan frontier. On […]

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The Arctic – The New Wild West

Via Pacific Environment, an article on the Arctic: Centuries ago, European settlers stumbled upon the New World, a pristine world teaming with wildlife and abundance.  Immediately the race was on to exploit these resources which were thought to be limitless.  We now know what happened to the great northern forests, the prairie, the buffalo and […]

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The Global Farm Grab Is On

Via CNN World, a report on the trend of global acquisition of farmland: This week in Washington, the World Bank is hosting its annual conference on land and poverty. The Bank has identified improved land governance as this year’s theme. It’s a wise decision, given that poor land governance in developing world agricultural settings has […]

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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.