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.

Such huge transfers of agricultural power must surely come with consequences that are worthy of closer regulatory inspection.

I personally know of the efforts of a leading Japanese company that is cooperating with African farmers to create sustainable systems that blend technology with traditional African lore

Korean investors are nervous about trusting African governments’ guarantees, and about complex and frequently arbitrary regulations.

The Slow Food Foundation for Biodiversity has joined forces with a coalition of organizations to protest against the recent increase in land grabbing - transferring rights over agricultural land in developing countries to foreign investors - and to denounce its support by the World Bank (WB).

The head of a 19-state African trading bloc has denied the Gulf’s policy of snapping up cheap farmland across the continent is tantamount to a ‘neo-colonialist’ land grab.

Morocco is inviting bids from foreign and domestic investors to lease 21,000 hectares of farmland as part of its farm reform plans.

Hyundai Heavy Industries Co., the world's largest shipbuilder, said Thursday that it has harvested 4,500 tons of soybeans and 2,000 tons of corn at its Russian farm.

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.

Farmers in Africa may starve as their fields are bought to profit rich foreigners, writes Jo Chandler in The Age

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.

“It’s not common in Brazil to find farmers presenting accounts to international investors. What you can see here is the new model for agribusiness in Brazil,” says André Pessôa, co-ordinator of the Rally da Safra.