A group of smallholder farmers in Mali have turned to the courts to try to recover land they say they have lost to big private investors. The legal action comes as foreign investors are losing interest in Mali due to political instability and an armed rebellion in the north.

A Chinese company's controversial bid to buy 16 New Zealand dairy farms has stalled again after a mystery backer agreed to finance another legal appeal against the purchase.

The European Union will impose a limit on the use of crop-based biofuels over fears they are less climate-friendly than initially thought and compete with food production, draft EU legislation seen by Reuters showed.

Sri Lanka’s Touchwood Investments PLC has acquired 11,138 hectares of land in Cambodia to set up an agricultural project to plant rubber and other crops.

When a Chinese investor bought a farm outside this village a few years back, he was pleased enough to name it Golden Land. The soil was rich, the sunshine and rain bountiful. The land, deep in rural Russia, was also largely devoid of people. No more.

Land grabbing in Congo is speculative, CONAPAC advisor Etienne Bisimwa says, often based on the anticipated demand for jatropha, for biofuel. The profits, he says, are unlikely to be invested in rural areas.

China’s growing agribusinesses and demand for soybeans and meat is bringing intensive farming and the risk of further deforestation in Brazil and beyond. Tom Levitt reports.

Colliers International estimates about A$4 billion is currently being raised for funds to invest in Australian agriculture, including PrimeAg’s raising of A$125 million in cash for a controversial unlisted A$250 million agriculture fund with Australia’s Future Fund.

Malaysian conglomerate Sime Darby Bhd is waiting for final approvals from the Peruvian government to start planting oil palm on 70,000 ha in the Latin American state.

As the amount of investor-owned farmland grows in Saskatchewan, so do concerns about foreign ownership and loopholes in the province’s farmland ownership regulations.

The dominant myth of industrial agriculture is that it produces more food and is land saving. However, the more industrial agriculture spreads, the more hungry people we have. And the more industrial agriculture spreads, the more land is grabbed.

Mawashi, Qatar’s livestock company, plans to invest in industrial agriculture and food sources outside Qatar to serve the vision and objectives of the Qatar National Food Security Programme, it was announced yesterday.