New Zealand's state pension fund is looking at buying overseas farmland amid growing demand for food in emerging markets, and it is also interested in assets offered by struggling European banks as well as catastrophe insurance.

At the final rally the protesters denounced food speculations and land grabbing. They said the farmers need fair rules instead of a liberalization of agricultural markets.

Liberia is selling itself slice by slice nine years after a terrible civil conflict finally came to an end, even though that could kindle tension among a population that often feels it is being sold out.

“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.