Farmland

Re: Farmland

Postby eauyong » Mon May 11, 2009 9:52 am

It does prove that feeding such a huge population is getting more and more difficult. China have allowed price increase in staples to encourage agriculture and at the same time improve the lives of farmers. Vested in China Green (904) during the recent "institutional sales" and now up 49.54%. :D
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Re: Farmland

Postby winston » Mon May 11, 2009 9:59 am

eauyong wrote:Vested in China Green (904) during the recent "institutional sales" and now up 49.54%.


Congrats eauyong !
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Re: Farmland

Postby winston » Tue Jun 16, 2009 9:10 pm

Soros, Rogers Snapping Up Farmland On Demand Bet By: Julie Crawshaw

Falling commodity prices aren't bringing prices for farmland down with them. Even as the price of grain goes down, the cost of the land it's grown on keeps going up, leading George Soros and other guru investors to bet big on agricultural land.

The fundamentals are easy to understand: Over the next 40 years the population of the world is projected to grow from 6 billion to 9 billion, hugely increasing the strain on arable farmland worldwide.

The spiking grain prices that caused food shortages and rioting in dozens of countries in spring of 2008 fell some 50 percent by December. Yet even after the correction, grain prices remain above their 20-year average, and food stocks around the world are still near 40-year lows.

"Land is scarce and will become scarcer as the world has to double food output to satisfy increased demand by 2050," Joachim von Braun, director general at the International Food Policy Research Institute, told Fortune Magazine.

"With limited land and water resources, this will automatically lead to increased valuations of productive land. And it goes hand in hand with water. Water scarcity will probably increase even more than land."

"I'm convinced that farmland is going to be one of the best investments of our time," says commodities guru Jim Rogers.

Eventually, Rogers notes, food prices will rise enough that the market probably will be flooded with supply through development of new land or technology or both, and the bull market will end.

“But that's a long ways away yet," Rogers says.

© 2009 Newsmax

http://moneynews.newsmax.com/markets/so ... 25222.html
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Re: Farmland

Postby millionairemind » Fri Jul 17, 2009 8:36 am

Published July 17, 2009

Warning on scramble for world's farm land

(SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt) A scramble by wealthy states to snap up developing world farm land to ensure their own food security - especially in Africa - could trigger conflict in poorer countries, a UN official said on Wednesday.

Sheila Sisulu, World Food Programme's deputy executive director, told Reuters that she would prefer that at least some of the crops produced on land leased to foreign governments stay in the country of origin to contribute to local food security stocks.

'The arable land in Africa is not that plentiful if you consider that desert is growing. Arable land is diminishing because of floods, of droughts. So I fear . . . conflict,' she said on the sidelines of the Non-Aligned Movement summit in Egypt.

'If they grow food, and the food is taken away . . . it can be a destabilising issue,' she added.

Large swathes of arable but fallow land in Africa have proved attractive investments for rich countries, such as Saudi Arabia, seeking greener pastures to help ensure their own food supplies, especially after sharp price hikes in 2008.

But the land acquisition phenomenon has been labelled exploitative by activists and prompted calls for guidelines.

'It would be better if countries really got good advice on the contractual arrangements that they make. Maybe . . . part of the produce must stay to make sure there is food security, rather than just the cash,' Ms Sisulu said.

Close to 2.5 million ha of farm land in five sub-Saharan African countries have been bought or leased since 2004, an investment of US$920 million, according to a May report co-authored by international agencies.

Ms Sisulu said that the global financial crisis is likely to further swell the already growing ranks of the hungry, especially as the downturn bites in poorer countries following a drop in worker remittances from abroad.

The United Nations said that the number of malnourished people has risen in the past two years and is expected to top 1.02 billion this year, reversing decades of declines. The global recession is expected to make 103 million more go hungry - a figure that Ms Sisulu said may be too low.

'It will grow . . . I would say another 50 million, and that is very modest. The additional could easily double (to 100 million) in my estimation,' she said. 'It wouldn't be in 2009 . . . but it will begin to rise from now.'

She said that the World Food Programme had collected less than US$2 billion of the more than US$6.4 billion that it estimated is needed this year to meet the urgent hunger needs of 105 million people.

She said that US$20 billion in farm aid pledged by G-8 leaders last week to help poor nations feed themselves was a welcome development, but cautioned that it might not help all at risk.

'The US$20 billion should focus also on alleviating suffering of the vulnerable,' she said. 'Urban people will not be assisted by agricultural development . . . Agricultural development assumes land, capability to work the land. Urban people don't have that.'

Source: Reuters
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Re: Farmland

Postby winston » Thu Aug 06, 2009 10:07 pm

US Farmland

Farmland prices in the U.S., which advanced for 21 years, couldn't escape the worst plunge in real estate since the Great Depression.

The value of all land and buildings on farms averaged $2,100 an acre at the start of 2009, down 3.2 percent from a year earlier, the first decline since 1987, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said in an annual report. Prices in Corn Belt states including Iowa and Illinois fell 2.2 percent to $3,620 an acre. In Montana, they plunged 22 percent to $700.

Rural property values fell less than city prices because farmers' debt loads are the lowest in least 50 years, said Jason Henderson, a vice president with the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City.


Source: Bloomberg
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Re: Farmland

Postby winston » Wed Sep 30, 2009 8:38 pm

This Asset Is Like Gold, Only Better By Chris Mayer, editor, Capital & Crisis

In the past few years, there's been an explosion of investor interest in "hedges."

Investors want to own foreign real estate for a hedge against a big depression in the United States. They want to own gold for a hedge against a dollar crisis. They want to own oil for a hedge against inflation.

But consider this "hedge factor"...

Between 1941 and 2002, average farmland values outpaced the growth of inflation by 2%.

In fact, some call farmland as good as gold with yield – because you clock in steady income from rents while you wait for the value to grow. I can think of no better asset to own during any kind of financial crisis.

In some ways, farmland is even better than gold or silver. At least farmland is an intrinsically useful thing. It provides a tangible yield in the form of good things from the earth. We all have to eat. As consumers trim their sails, they'll give up a lot before they give up their calorie intake.

Governments, particularly in times of crisis – like now – have a tendency to flood the system with money in an attempt to "goose" the economy. Mostly, such efforts have succeeded in destroying the value of the currency in question.

Anyway, if you believe that we will continue to feel the bane of inflation, then farmland's performance in the 1970s will give you some comfort... While you lost half of your money in the S&P 500, your farmland kept its value nicely. Again, I think that's rooted in the fact that farmland is intrinsically useful. It produces useful and needed things.

Now imagine what farmland might do in today's climate, in which you have not only the likely prospect of inflation, but also a tightening supply of farmland and rising demand for crops. You have biofuels eating up more of our grain supply. I imagine you'll do quite a bit better than in the 1970s.

Farmland treated British investors great just last year. As British housing prices collapsed in 2008, British farmland value rose by 21%. Over the last five years, Brit farmland rose a total 135%. Forget commercial property. That's not a bad ROI in my book.

And there's one more way to look at it: This hedge can outperform gold. In Britain, the farmer outpaced the gold owner. Expanding land values rode up 115% since 1983, versus gold at 81%. You can be sure institutional investors are already placing their long-term bets. Almost half the farmland bought there last year was snapped up by banks and funds.

The obvious investment conclusion: If you're worried about the dollar, the economy, or any other problem, buy farmland today. This is hard to do directly through the stock market... so I encourage you to consider a private deal. You can play agriculture through companies that manufacture irrigation equipment, produce fertilizer, or operate grain-handling facilities.

Check these investments out soon. I think we're in for broad farmland/agriculture rally that should be good for hundreds of percent returns. As you can see from farmland's past results, it's a great hedge in all kinds of environments.

Source: Daily Wealth
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Re: Farmland

Postby kennynah » Thu Oct 01, 2009 9:51 am

i wont even know where to start...even if i wanted to buy a piece of sunkist land in florida???
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Re: Farmland

Postby winston » Sun Feb 21, 2010 12:35 pm

Indonesia aims to be world's breadbasket

Following Brazil's trail, Indonesia is encouraging foreign and local investors to lease huge swathes of fertile countryside and help make the country a major food producer.

"Feed Indonesia, then feed the world," was the recent call from President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono after the government announced plans to fast-track development of vast agricultural estates in remote areas like Papua and Borneo.

Between now and 2030 Indonesia expects to become one of the world's biggest producers of rice, maize, sugar, coffee, shrimp, meats and palm oil, senior agriculture ministry official Hilman Manan said.

The world's fourth most populous country, with 235 million people, Indonesia has been self-sufficient in rice since 2008 and is already the top producer of palm oil.

"If everything goes well, Indonesia should be able to be self-sufficient in five years. And then it can start to feed the world," said Sony Heru Priyanto, an expert at Satya Wacana Christian University.

The first area targeted for development is 1.6 million hectares (3.95 million acres) in the southeast of the largely undeveloped province of Papua, around the town of Merauke.

The Merauke Integrated Food and Energy Estate will, the government hopes, create thousands of jobs and turn an impoverished and neglected corner of the Indonesian archipelago into a hive of activity.

"We chose Merauke because it's the ideal place for food crop cultivation, such as rice, corn, soybean and sugar cane. Merauke district has 4.5 million hectares of land; 2.5 million hectares are ideal for cultivation," Manan said.

"The area is flat and has a good climate. Its soil is appropriate for those crops. Sumatra is already congested with other plantations, such as palm oil, and Kalimantan is already full of mining areas and many plantation areas also."

He said Merauke's population of some 175,000 people could rocket to 800,000 if the plan takes off.

Foreigners will be able to control a maximum of 49 percent of any investing company, and will be offered incentives like tax breaks and reductions in customs and excise duties.

"In order to avoid any forms of monopolies or land grabbing, we're limiting each company to a maximum of 10,000 hectares of land," Manan said, stressing that the government was selling land use rights, not the land itself.

He said interest had come from Japan, South Korea and the Middle East.

But analysts said the region's biggest advantage -- expanses of "empty" land -- was also the main obstacle: the project will require up to five billion dollars in infrastructure investments, from a new port to roads and runways.

And there is opposition from small-scale farmers who say their traditional livelihoods could be threatened by the large-scale commercialization of agriculture.

"We reject the concept of the food estate. For us, food estates are another kind of land grabbing scheme. It's like going back to the era of feudalism," Indonesian Farmers Union official Kartini Samon said.

"The regular farmers' land will be taken by big companies and the farmers will be left with nothing," she said.

Such worries are well known in other countries with similar schemes, such as Brazil and Madagascar, where there is deep suspicion about food and bio-fuel companies monopolising agricultural land.

There are also fears for the rights of indigenous Papuans, an ethnic-Melanesian minority who have long complained that their traditional lands are being unjustly exploited by outsiders.

Source: AFP Global Edition
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Re: Farmland

Postby LenaHuat » Tue Oct 19, 2010 9:30 am

I had no idea about this until I read this :

FDIC Warns of Possible US Farmland 'Bubble'

U.S. farmland could be the next asset bubble at risk for bursting, a leading banking regulator said Monday.

Sheila Bair, chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., said it was important to monitor U.S. farmland values for signs of instability like the price bubbles in the housing and stock markets that burst with disastrous consequences for many investors.

http://www.cnbc.com/id/39727942
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Re: Farmland

Postby winston » Wed Mar 23, 2011 10:00 pm

BUBBLE SPOTTING…. by Cullen Roche

I’ve laid my cards on the table and so have a few other notable bubble spotters. But few would argue that Robert Shiller is not the king bubble spotter and in an article today Professor Shiller showed his hand. Where’s the next big bubble? Like John Hussman and myself believe Shiller says a bubble is forming in commodities, but Shiller is far more exact. He says the commodity bubble is leading to a much bigger bubble in farmland.

He says:

“A continuation of today’s commodity-price boom seems more likely, for it has more of a “new era” story attached to it. Increasing worries about global warming, and its effects on food prices, or about the cold and snowy winter in the northern hemisphere and its effects on heating fuel prices, are contagious stories.

They are even connected to the day’s top story, the revolutions in the Middle East, which, according to some accounts, were triggered by popular discontent over high food prices – and which could themselves trigger further increases in oil prices.

But my favorite dark-horse bubble candidate for the next decade or so is farmland – and not just because there have been stories in recent months of booming farmland prices in the US and the United Kingdom.”

It’s nice to know I am not the only one who is seeing signs of irrational exuberance in these markets. But like my housing market call of 2006 it’s likely that I am early to the game. But forewarned is forearmed….

http://pragcap.com/bubble-spotting
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