The Teachers’ Retirement System of Louisiana has approved a $50m commitment to PGIM’s US agriculture fund.

The $128 billion Washington State Investment Board is considering investing up to $250 million in the IFC Core Farmland Fund – an open-ended vehicle focused on investing in U.S. farming operations

As PrimeAg Australia's $125 million sale of rural properties to US fund manager TIAA-CREF goes through, the question now being raised by investors is what will happen to the residual portfolio.

New York-based hedge fund Water Asset Management LLC spent $100 million to buy farmland and water rights in Western Arizona, stirring concerns about a future “water grab” from that rural area and of corporate control over a major groundwater source.

Sweden’s SEK227.3bn (€26.7bn) state buffer fund Andra AP-fonden (AP2) has been accused of a lack of transparency and snapping up cheap agricultural land in Brazil by campaign group Swedwatch. AP2 denies the allegations.

Norway’s US$710bn sovereign investment fund has pulled its investment from 23 Southeast Asian palm oil companies, claiming that they source palm oil unsustainably.

Norway’s US$1 trillion sovereign wealth fund, the world’s largest, has pulled out of more than 33 palm oil companies over deforestation risks over the last seven years

DanChurchAid, CARE Denmark and MS calls for more transparency of pension investments in African agriculture.

For almost ten years, AP Pension has bought farms for DKK 700 million. Now the private equity fund Erhvervsinvest will take over the administration and "develop" the portfolio.

Denmark’s AP Pension is expanding its exposure to agricultural land in a proposed new deal to buy farmland in eastern Romania and lease it back to the Danish company operating farms on the land.

CEFF II raised $1 billion from a group of institutional investors, mostly pension funds, to invest in high-tech greenhouses, indoor, vertical farms, and other sectors that need controlled environment agriculture facilities.

This investment marks the US pension’s first investment in farmland, and in its first in Homestead.

Pension funds are seeking out agricultural and commodity-related assets that offer diversification from traditional asset classes and superior returns to listed equities.

London-based Stafford Capital Partners has raised €12m from three European pension funds towards its soon-to-be-launched follow-up to its Australian farmland fund.

A new survey of 223 asset managers, pension plans and pension consultants with combined assets of $13.4 trillion shows investor interest in farmland

New Jersey’s $70 billion public-employee pension manager, the New Jersey State Investment Council, has agreed to commit $100 million in Homestead Capital’s third farmland fund.

Vermont Pension Investment Commission, Montpelier, committed $35 million to U.S. Core Farmland Fund on behalf of the $6.8 billion Vermont State Retirement Systems.

One of Canada’s biggest pension funds has teamed up with management of Australia’s largest pecan grower and processor, Stahmann Farms Enterprises.

Friends of the Earth is running an ethical pension campaign to encourage investors to ask their providers if they invest in land grabbing activities. Emma Websdale spoke with campaigner Kirtana Chandrasekaran to discuss why it is such an important issue.

Australian agricultural asset manager Warakirri has announced it is targeting a $500m-plus expansion into the dairy farming sector via a new trans-Tasman investment fund.

Joint statement released by more than 60 civil society organisations against the role of pension funds and other financial instutions in land grabbing

Ospraie Management, the famous commodities hedge fund, is still long on farmland because it has actual cash flow. Many pension funds are now buying farmlands, reports Bloomberg.

A joint venture between Australia's Warakirri Asset Management and Canada’s Public Sector Pension Investment Board has acquired a grain growing aggregation in Riverina, Australia for more than $55 million

The New Zealand Superannuation Fund, which has bought up 21 local dairy farms as part of its push into rural land investment, is looking outside the dairy sector for its next foray, eyeing land used for beef and permanent crops and expansion into Australia.

The fund’s initial offering has raised EUR32.45 million to-date from private investors to back sustainably-managed agricultural land and forests in the Baltic Sea region and Central and Eastern Europe.

German airline Lufthansa in talks with several investment firms about taking on management of a private equity fund that will invest into farmland in Cameroon and Eastern Europe to grow oil crops.

Gobal fund manager Schroders is launching an Agricultural Land Fund, only months after closing its USD 6 billion Alternative Solutions Agriculture Fund due to excessive investor demand.

Warakirri Asset Management announced the expansion of its Warakirri Farmland Fund portfolio through the acquisition of five premium fruit orchard assets in the Cobram region of Victoria, Australia.

The New Zealand Superannuation Fund has made its first offshore farm investment, taking a stake in Australian beef stud Palgrove for an undisclosed amount.

The fund is in the process of leasing 50,000 hectares of land in Tanzania which will be complete by the end of this year and will mainly be for rice production.