Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category

The Looming Land Grab For Carbon Credits

Courtesy of The Financial Times, an article on how countries might soon be able to trade emission reductions with other governments, but experts warn the market is already being exploited in developing countries: One day in late October, leaders from more than a dozen towns across Liberia’s Gbi-Doru rainforest crammed into a whitewashed, tin-roofed church. […]

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U.S. States Crack Down on Foreign-Owned Farm Fields

Via Stateline, a look at how – as foreigners buy up American agricultural land – U.S. lawmakers want to keep certain countries out: Andy Gipson gets concerned even when American allies such as the Netherlands and Germany invest in large swaths of Mississippi’s farmland. “It just bothers me at a gut level,” he said. For Gipson, […]

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Russia Woos Africa With Free Grain, Fertilizer Research Funding

Via Bloomberg, a look at Russia’s use of free grain and subsidized agricultural-related research to generate international political support: Somalia, Burkina Faso set to receive first grain shipments Billionaire Melnichenko backs study for ex-South Africa leader Russian shipments of donated grain are due to begin landing in Africa within days, giving fresh impetus to its […]

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UAE Firm Secures African Land The Size of UK To Offset Nation’s Big Carbon Footprint

Via CNN, a report that a UAE company has secured African land the size of the UK to be used to ‘offset’ the nation’s big carbon footprint: In late September, Zimbabwe’s environment minister signed away control over a staggering amount of land — almost 20% of his country — to a little-known foreign company. Blue Carbon was […]

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80 Million Hectares of Additional Cropland Needed; Igniting a “Race for Prime Spots”

Via Just Food, news of a new McKinsey report that almost 80m hectares of additional cropland will needed to sustain global food demand: An extra 70 to 80 million hectares of cropland is required in the next seven years to meet the growing demand for food and feed worldwide, according to research from McKinsey. Such […]

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Kenya Concedes ‘Millions of Hectares’ to UAE Firm in Latest Carbon Offset Deal

Via Middle East Eye, a report that Blue Carbon has signed a series of deals with African countries for carbon offset projects covering a total area of 24.5 million hectares: Dubai-based firm Blue Carbon has signed a framework of collaboration (FOC) with Kenya’s State Department of Environment and Climate Change that would concede “millions of hectares” of its territory for the production of carbon […]

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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.