“We don’t want to work for palm oil companies, we want our forest back,” says Christianus Ungkujay

Ministers' Communiqué from the Global Forum for Food and Agriculture – Berlin, January 19th 2013

Foreigners will not be allowed to lease land for a period exceeding 49 years and those who fail to put their land to use will face stiff penalties, which include repossession.

The world produced 2,241 million tons of grain in 2012, down 75 million tons or 3 percent from the 2011 record harvest. The drop was largely because of droughts that devastated several major crops—namely corn in the United States (the world’s largest crop) and wheat in Russia, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, and Australia. Each of these countries also is an important exporter.

Hedge fund billionaire George Soros made a fortune betting against the British pound in 1992 and was accused of doing the same against the Thai baht and the Malaysian ringitt in 1997. Today Soros is making a killing buying and selling farmland in South America.

Cambodian human rights activists showed once again that they are on cutting edge of pop culture by performing a choreographed dance to a land rights themed version of the viral video "Gangnam Style" in Phnom Penn.

Almarai’s ownership of dairies, processing plants and a distribution system makes it more profitable than its peers. The operation’s earnings before interest and taxes margin is at least 30 percent bigger than Danone, Nestle and Savola.

Tanzania Investment Centre in collaboration with the Prime Minister's Office and the Southern Agriculture Corridor of Tanzania Centre recently organized a conference under the theme 'Accelerating Tanzania's Agribusiness Investment' in Dar es Salaam.

As world food and energy demands grow, nations and some corporations increasingly are looking to acquire quality agricultural land for food production. Some nations are gaining land by buying up property – and accompanying water resources – in other, generally less wealthy countries.

Ethicist Peter Singer asks the purchase of body parts gives rise to international condemnation, while the purchase of agricultural land does not – even when it involves evicting local landholders and producing food for export to rich countries?

The intended aim is to meet Abu Dhabi's vision and strategy for long-term food security.

The Itochu Corporation acquires a 33.4% stake in HyLife, one of Canada's largest pig producers, for $56.5 million.