Archive for January, 2010

Mideast’s Waning Appetite: Slowdown In Gulf States’ Dash For Farmland
January 28th, 2010

Courtesy of The Financial Times, an interesting report discussing slowdown in the efforts by Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and Qatar to acquire or lease land overseas.  As the article notes: “…Eighteen months ago, food was the hot topic in the Arab Gulf and the cause of much angst. Soaring prices of staples […]

Read more »
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

Dirt Cheap: Ethiopia’s Great “Land Lease” Project
January 16th, 2010

Courtesy of The Guardian, a look at Ethiopia’s great land lease project, an initiative in which the government – in an effort to introduce large-scale commercial farming to the country – is offering up vast chunks of fertile farmland to local and foreign investors at almost giveaway rates. By 2013, 3m hectares of idle land […]

Read more »
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

A Global Grain Drain?
January 14th, 2010

The Woodrow Wilson Center recently published a balanced examination of the increasing frequency with which food-importing countries and private investors are acquiring farmland across the developing world.  We recommend the full report but, for those short of time, here is the conclusion of this look at the future of overseas land investment: “…Today’s international land […]

Read more »
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

  | 
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.