Money from pension funds has fuelled the financial sector's massive move into farmland investing over the past decade. The number of pension funds involved in farmland investment and the amount of money they are deploying into it is increasing, under the radar.

Les fonds de pension sont peut-être l’une des rares catégories d’accapareurs de terres auxquelles les gens peuvent couper l’herbe sous le pied, pour la bonne et simple raison que c’est de leur argent qu’il s’agit.

The results of pension funds’ alternative investments have been passable so far. In the case of farmland, at the end of last year the average total annual return over a 10 year period was more than 10%.

Africa is regarded as the New Eldorado, and is attracting many foreign based private or public investment companies, sovereign wealth funds and even pension funds gradually. Sadly, while foreigners continue to play a major role in growth investments, African pension funds' contributions to this growth are dismal.

For almost ten years, AP Pension has bought farms for DKK 700m (EUR 94m). Now, private equity fund Erhvervsinvest will take over the administration and ”develop” the portfolio.

Pension funds may be one of the few classes of land grabbers that people can pull the plug on, by sheer virtue of the fact that it is their money.

Depuis une dizaine d’années, l’argent des fonds de pension alimente un énorme investissement dans les terres agricoles. Le nombre de fonds de pension investissant dans les terres agricoles et les sommes d’argent déployées à cette fin sont en augmentation, mais tout se fait discrètement.

Some pension funds are beginning to question their investments in commodities after accusations that massive flows into the sector have distorted markets, fuelled food inflation and hurt poor nations.

Pension funds are deepening their commitment to farmland, upping investments by billions of dollars and moving to active strategies, as a hedge against potential inflation and to diversifty from riskier investments.

One of Canada's largest pension funds, the Public Sector Pension Investment Board, has made its first rural land purchase in Australia through central Queensland's Hewitt Cattle Company.

Report on the growing popularity of farmland investment in the developing world for European pension funds

The Swiss association of the largest public pension funds, has decided to exclude shares in the French group Bolloré SE. The exclusion is justified by “potential human rights violations in Liberia, Cambodia and Sierra Leone”.

A new report from the Oakland Institute, reveals that several well-known pension funds, trusts and endowments are invested in a group of oil palm plantations in the Democratic Republic of Congo accused of environmental and human rights abuses.

AP Pension, the Danish labour-market pensions provider, has hit out at media reports that its chief executive quit in December because of pressure from the supervisory board to invest in the agricultural sector.

Sweden’s AP2 and UK local authority funds are among the backers of a new $3bn global agriculture fund.

Denmark's PKA has invested DKK250m (€33.5m) in African agriculture via the Silverland private equity fund (a SilvertStreet Capital fund)

UK local government pension schemes-backed Stafford Carbon Offsets Opportunities Fund has invested $60m to acquire degraded pastureland in south-western Brazil and made a $12m investment in three properties totalling 1,914ha in New Zealand.

Global institutional investors, led by Canadian pension funds, are piling into the sector, a trend mirroring growing allocations to the farming and related rural sectors worldwide.

How farmland became a pillar of South Yorkshire Pension Authority's net-zero plans.

Created specifically for domestic and offshore institutional investors, the fund has already secured significant cornerstone funding from one of the largest pension funds in Europe

Australian farmland is an appealing asset class to Canadian-backed investment group, Warakirri Asset Management, with the firm having launched a new fund which expects to raise $500 million.

New animated video shows how a global farmland fund, managed by US financial giant TIAA-CREF, used a complex company structure to avoid restrictions on foreign investment in farmland in Brazil.

Canada's Public Sector Pension Investment Board, got a green light to buy a medium-sized New Zealand dairy farm and a neighbouring dairy support block in Canterbury for $17.7 million just ahead of tougher requirements on land sales to foreign buyers.

Un nouveau rapport du Oakland Institute dénonce le financement par plusieurs fondations, fonds de pension et trusts internationaux d’une société de plantations de palmiers à huile en RDC

In April 2021, the Netherlands-based Kempen Capital Management (Kempen) launched the SDG Farmland Fund – a new investment solution to offer institutional investors global access to farmland as an asset class.

Legendary waterfront warrior Chris Corrigan could soon have one of the world’s top investors — Canada’s Public Sector Pension Investment Board — as the main shareholder in his Australian listed agricultural company, Webster Limited.

Saskatchewan’s move to freeze purchases of farmland by pension plans and foreign investors has ignited a debate over what’s best for the future of Canada’s bread basket.

Le plus grand fonds de pension au monde a révélé avoir vendu ses parts dans le groupe Bolloré, un puissant conglomérat français, en raison de préoccupations non résolues concernant de « graves violations des droits humains » dans une entreprise agricole détenue en partie par le groupe.

In order to apply for a licence from the Lesotho Highlands Development Authority, private equity owned SanLei Premium Trout had to show how local communities would benefit. But the Catchment Resilience Fund initiative seems to have crumbled after less than a year.

The new Luxembourg-registered Sustainable Resources Fund boasts anticipated potential returns of at least 15% per annum on forestry, agriculture, biomass and land.