Brazil

O relatório afirma que o Brasil e a China continuam sendo destinos preferidos de investidores que buscam aplicações em propriedades no exterior.

Group's $700 million international crop fund has been dealt a serious blow with new foreign investment restrictions on rural property in Brazil stalling its expansion.

The Brazilian government's decision to block major foreign land purchases from August 2010 has had a very real impact: prices for lots larger than 3,000 hectares have fallen by 10% or more over the past year, depending on the region.

Pension funds and other corporate owners have spent only a tiny fraction of the billions of dollars they could invest in farmland, but they are definitely kicking the tires on potential purchases.

SLC Agricola has bought its second farm in Brazil's Piaui state in less than two months, expanding into a relatively undeveloped area where land prices are a fraction of those in more popular regions.

"I'm betting the current furor will end up dying down once Congressman Beto Faro's report is in. He's the Workers Party legislator in Brazil, tasked with measuring just how much foreigners control Brazilian farmland."

Report by HighQuest Partners for the OECD, October 2011, features 6 case studies of land grabbers: Agrica, CalyxAgro, Cazanae, Jantzen, NFD Agro and Quifel

Hassad Food Company is keen to secure food supplies for Qatar at reasonable prices through local and international investments in various countries, according to an article in the Qatar Chamber of Commerce and Industry memorial book ‘40 Years of Excellence and Achievement.’

Changes to land laws are under discussion in Brazil, this time based on reciprocity. One result is that Chinese investors would be banned from buying any land in Brazil, as China does not permit private ownership of land.

Roger Ferguson, chief executive of TIAA-CREF, says his firm is increasingly acquiring farmland in the US, Eastern Europe, Australia and Brazil as long term investments.

Farmland investments may return 8 percent to 12 percent annually as global food demand increases, said the largest US pensions manager for teachers and academic researchers with $469 billion of assets.

BrasilAgro, which amassed some 170,000 hectares of land in less than four years, has turned seller, disposing of the first property which it bought for a price 10% higher than the start of the year.