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New York advisory firm Hodes Weill & Associates has formed a company with former Credit Suisse executives to invest in timber and agriculture from a $500m initial capital as part of a real estate and real assets strategy.

Competition from pension funds and wealthy individuals has helped double investment-grade farmland prices to £12,500 an acre over 5 years, with prices soaring faster than luxury London homes, according to Knight Frank research.

Mountain Cleantech's investment for a 30-40% equity stake will fund product development and international expansion.

New Zealand's MyFarm has launched a mezzanine debt product to provide farms with up to $300m investment in the face of the dairy crisis and a crackdown by the government on foreign investment.

Hancock Timber boosts southern US timber assets with 98,000 acres in Florida as Plum Creek offloads non-core investments.

Venture capital firm Ignite Farm wants $50m for its second fund less than 18 months after raising $10m for food industry and digital start-ups, according to SEC filings.

The $70bn Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund has invested $100m in Brookfield Brazil Agriculture Fund II, a $700m vehicle being raised by Canada's largest asset manager.

Rural Funds Group will develop and lease a 1500 hectare almond orchard to Olam, the operations arm of the Singaporean agribusiness and the biggest almond grower in Australia.

Craigmore’s second fund has collected a number of soft commitments ahead of a first close expected shortly.

The New Zealand government has blocked Shanghai Pengxin’s purchase of the country’s largest dairy farm, halting the Chinese conglomerate’s ambition to build a NZ$1bn farm empire.