LACERA buys into TIAA-CREF’s global farmland funds
- IPE
- 09 February 2022
Los Angeles County Employees Retirement Association (LACERA) is buying into TIAA-CREF’s global farmland funds with a $456m investment.
Los Angeles County Employees Retirement Association (LACERA) is buying into TIAA-CREF’s global farmland funds with a $456m investment.
The pandemic-fueled land rush has brought wealthier buyers to rural areas, making land even harder to access—a crisis that has become especially acute in the Northeast of the US.
The growing financialisation of Brazilian agribusiness is enabling foreign investment in the industry most responsible for deforestation - and land grabbing
Listen to an interview with Maria Luisa Mendonça of Rede Social on US teachers' pension fund TIAA investments in Brazil land grabbing and deforestation.
In 2013, mammoth US investment company TIAA-CREF gave $5 million to the University of Illinois to fund a research center, branded with the company’s name, that would explore the financial niche of farmland investment.
A campaign by U.S. and Brazilian activists challenging TIAA and other financial firms’ complicity in land grabs and deforestation in Brazil is scoring major victories.
In a letter laying out 6 clear demands, the groups call on TIAA to fully divest from fossil fuels by 2025 and to immediately stop its acquisitions of farmland.
Brazilian sugar company Cosan has purchased a stake in the land holding company Grupo Radar from the US pension fund manager TIAA for $278 million, giving it over 50% ownership.
Farmland grabs by US companies and pension funds are being ignored as appropriators prioritise keeping Chinese interests in check, critics say
Reporting by Agência Pública has revealed how investors including U.S. pension funds and an Argentine agribusiness giant may be linked to illegal land deals and deforestation in Brazil’s Cerrado region.
Banks, retirement funds, retail investors, boutique asset managers, and even some nonprofits and universities are doubling down on farmland investments, making it increasingly difficult for farmers of color to access land.
Quienes actualmente controlan los flujos financieros del mundo no son capaces de apoyar a los productores de alimentos y a los sistemas alimentarios —que pueden combatir la crisis climática o las muchas otras crisis que afectan a la alimentación y a la agricultura. Nuestro desafío es lograr que tanto las tierras agrícolas como el dinero no sigan en sus manos, tan pronto como podamos.