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Provisional authorization for land exploitation (1 000 ha) in the Gaza province and Terms of authorization of project "Emvest Limpopo Project (Matuba Farm)"

"The reasons [Ukrainians] choose to lease [Landkom] their land has nothing to do with money - it is an emotional desire to see their region go forward, that's all," says Paul Spinks.

Farming overseas is a global trend. So to find out more about this phenomenon, Mike Gallagher meets Andrew Hunter - a British farmer working vast landholdings in Hungary and Serbia.

Farm Radio International writer Gladson Makowa, visited a Malawian community where small-scale farmland was transformed into a sugarcane plantation. He reports on how locals are coping with the loss of farmland and hoping to keep their houses.

Slater reckons shortages of soft commodities and the likelihood of rising inflation make farmland an excellent investment, not least in Brazil where Agrifirma is located.

Japan is considering providing loans from a government-owned bank for companies to purchase and lease farmland abroad, Munemitsu Hirano, counsellor at the international affairs department of the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, said.

Foreign investors have been given licenses to run cow farms across Kurdistan Region.

Agrifirma Brazil, a farm fund backed by Lord Rothschild and Jim Slater, the former corporate raider, is scrapping its hedge fund-style fees to make it easier to attract investors. Agrifirma owns more than 100,000 acres of Brazilian farmland.

Could the Middle East become a significant new source of offshore investment in Australia’s extensive northern cattle industry?

Due to the lack of arable land in its home market, Savola must look abroad for agricultural land and has named Sudan, Egypt, Ethiopia and Ukraine as target countries where it plans to buy the land necessary to grow seeds such as sunflower and corn seeds.

The fund, which will invest in commercial agriculture in Sub-Saharan Africa, has dual-purpose - to ensure returns in the range of 15-20 per cent, while the investment helps to create jobs and give rural Africans the chance to help themselves out of poverty. Currently, cru has significant exposure to commercial agriculture in Malawi with over 2,500 hectares of land under its own control and another 4,000 hectares in outgrower schemes.

Investors are pouring billions into Russian agribusiness—and trying to reverse decades of Soviet mismanagement.