Archive for August, 2013

Brazil and China Scramble For Agricultural Influence In Africa
August 29th, 2013

Via The Guardian, a look at China and Brazil’s involvement in African agriculture: China and Brazil have identified agriculture as central to their development efforts in Africa, confident in the belief that they can make valuable contributions based on their own agricultural success. China trumpets its ability to feed 20% of the world’s population on […]

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The Hungry Dragon: Why China’s Farms Are Failing
August 24th, 2013

Via The Atlantic, a report on how China’s environmental problems threaten the food production system for over a billion people: A farmer walks through a field near a replica of the Eiffel Tower at the Tianducheng development in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province. (Aly Song/Reuters) Ever since May, when a state-controlled Chinese company agreed to buy U.S. […]

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Great American Farmland Boom…Still Ticking
August 23rd, 2013

Courtesy of the New York Times, a report on the rush to invest in farmland in the U.S.: DAN LINDSTROM remembers looking at a piece of Nebraska farmland six or seven years ago that cost $3,300 an acre. Raised on a farm, he ran the numbers with his brother who is farming the family land […]

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The Great Southeast Asian Land Grab
August 7th, 2013

Courtesy of The Diplomat, an article on issues related to land ownership in Southeast Asia: Conflict over land tenure in Southeast Asia’s rural areas has emerged as a key issue for the region. To achieve goals such as economic development and poverty reduction in rural areas, governments in the region have pursued policies to attract […]

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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.