Archive for July, 2009

African Farmland: Modern Day Monopoly Or The Final Frontier for Finding Alpha?

Courtesy of Spiegel Online, a detailed report on the how governments and investment funds are buying up farmland in Africa and Asia to grow food — a profitable business, with a growing global population and rapidly rising prices.  As the article notes: “…Every crisis has its winners. A group of them is sitting in the […]

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Agricultural Outsourcing: The UN View

Via Public Radio International, a very balanced look at the trend towards outsourcing agriculture to developing nations: “…Some of the richest countries are buying large swatches of land in some of the poorest countries to plant crops — essentially outsourcing agriculture. Whether the crops go for fuel or food, the world’s rich countries are now […]

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Arab States’ Global Reach: Smart Investing or ‘Neo-Colonialism’ ?

Via Seed Daily, an article on the acquisition strategy of the Kuwait China Investment Company, a company partly owned by the emirate’s sovereign wealth fund which is preparing to join other Gulf states in buying up agricultural land in Asia, part of a global land grab to ensure food security.  As the article notes: “…Unlike […]

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UAE and Sudan: An Odd Land Deal

Via The Economist, an interesting report on a recent discreet deal under which some 16,800 square kilometres (6,180 square miles) of Sudanese wilderness will become the estate of a company from Abu Dhabi.  As the article notes: The leasing agreement was signed by a company called Al Ain National Wildlife after an earlier failed attempt […]

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About This Blog And Its Author
Seeds Of A Revolution is committed to defining the disruptive geopolitics of the global Farms Race.  Due to the convergence of a growing world population, increased water scarcity, and a decrease in arable land & nutrient-rich soil, a spike of international investment interest in agricultural is inevitable and apt to bring a heretofore domestic industry into a truly global realm.  Whether this transition involves global land leases or acquisitions, the fundamental need for food & the protectionist feelings this need can give rise to is highly likely to cause such transactions to move quickly into the geopolitical realm.  It is this disruptive change, and the potential for a global farms race, that Seeds Of A Revolution tracks, analyzes, and forecasts.

Educated at Yale University (Bachelor of Arts - History) and Harvard (Master in Public Policy - International Development), Monty Simus has long held a keen interest in natural resource policy and the geopolitical implications of anticipated stresses in the areas of freshwater scarcity, biodiversity reserves & parks, and farm land.  Monty has lived, worked, and traveled in more than forty countries spanning Africa, China, western Europe, the Middle East, South America, and Southeast & Central Asia, and his personal interests comprise economic development, policy, investment, technology, natural resources, and the environment, with a particular focus on globalization’s impact upon these subject areas.  Monty writes about freshwater scarcity issues at www.waterpolitics.com and frontier investment markets at www.wildcatsandblacksheep.com.