China

China may set up large pork and chicken operations in Australia as it strives to keep up a burgeoning demand for meat among Chinese consumers.

A empresa estatal chinesa Chongqing Grain Group pretende investir US$ 300 milhões (R$ 525 milhões) na compra de 100 mil hectares de terra no oeste da Bahia, com o objetivo de produzir soja para o mercado brasileiro e chinês.

Chinese investors interested in cultivating Bahamian land could be interested in exporting what they produce as well as supplying the local market, the executive chairman of the Bahamas Agriculture and Industrial Corporation said yesterday.

FIDP has launched a Cambodia and Laos fund, “an extended China play” that will focus largely on agriculture, seeking to benefit from China’s desire for food security.

Southern NZ farmers will want to see cash before agreeing to sell their farms to a foreign company again, having been burnt once by a deal that turned sour.

Chinese investment in Australian farms increased 10-fold in the past six months, as buyers see opportunities in agriculture. “Chinese are wealthy and they are looking for a secure investment in beef, cotton and grain properties, ” said John Burke, an agent for Elders Ltd.

Someone needs to put Fonterra and the Feds into the same room.

The Chinese-backed company seeking to buy 29 North Island dairy farms is also trying to buy up to 100 farms in Otago and Southland and build a dairy factory in Southland.

People see the Chinese as moving into Africa, kicking poor farmers off their land, and growing food to be shipped back to China for domestic consumption. This seems unlikely, however, says Doug Saunders.

The economic nationalism and calls for protectionism seem ironic given the fact that Fonterra itself is a large multinational, which in addition to having farms in China, has since 2002 been in partnership with global food giant Nestle in the Dairy Partners Americas.

Comprar tierras agrícolas, principalmente en África y América Latina, es una apuesta poco arriesgada, dado el rápido crecimiento de la población mundial a alimentar, señalan los expertos.

The most unbelievably naïve reaction to the news that a mysterious Chinese company is hoping to buy up to $1.5 billion worth of dairy farms came from Federated Farmers, which said that this is an “unintended consequence” of the NZ/China Free Trade Agreemen