Crops

Emma Cowan, independent agribusiness consultant, describes the changing landscape for commodities amid a shift in biofuel and BRIC countries’ growth potential.

Founders Fund’s commitment to Privateer Holdings should encourage other institutions to consider the industry, according to Ryan Brown, chief executive of GrowPros, an investment firm and consultancy.

The World Bank's political risk agency has guaranteed a $23.8 million loan from Agrivision Africa to one of its subsidiaries to acquire and improve a wheat and maize mill.

Peter Thiel’s Founders Fund has committed several million dollars to Privateer Holdings which is raising $75m in Series B funding.

Meneba Beheer, a Dutch flour business and former portfolio company of CVC and Bencis, has been charged by the Dutch regulator for price fixing. Both private equity firms face fines as a result.

The real estate investment trust has won a 331-acre strawberry farm in Salinas, California, at auction.

Freight Farms, which makes mobile crop production facilities, raised the funding in a round led by venture capital firm Spark Capital.

The Illinois State Board of Investment is terminating its only investment mandate in the asset class with no plans to make new agri-related investments.

The management consultancy firm has sent a submission to the government’s Agricultural Competitiveness Taskforce in the wake of its crop insurance symposium earlier this month.

Average food prices have declined over the past four years, according to the Food and Agriculture Organisation. But how long will it last? Duxton’s Desmond Sheehy argues the case for food price hikes.