.

NEWS AND VIEWS THAT IMPACT LIMITED CONSTITUTIONAL GOVERNMENT

"There is danger from all men. The only maxim of a free government ought to be to trust no man living with
power to endanger the public liberty." - - - - John Adams

Saturday, January 7, 2012

Argentina fights Saudi Land Grab


Got Saudi Milk from Argentina?
Billboard in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia reading "Drink milk".  Al Marai, the largest dairy producer in the Gulf, is partly owned by Savola, Saudi Arabia's largest food company.  Al Marai was started by Prince Sultan bin Mohammed bin Saud Al Kabeer of the Saudi royal family(Photo: CAPA)


The Road to Serfdom Series
Argentina fights back against being "colonized" by Saudi Arabia and other nations in huge land grabs


Argentina is starting to fight back against being colonized by monster sized land grabs by nations like China, Saudi Arabia.  The Chinese and others are buying up millions of acres of farm land and natural resources for export to their home nations.

Saudi Arabia's largest dairy company said it is buying Argentine farm operator Fondomonte S.A. for $83 million to secure access to a supply of animal feed.

The acquisition will give Riyadh-based Almarai Co. control of roughly 30,000 acres of farmland in the South American nation just ahead of tough new limits likely to be imposed by Argentina's government on foreign ownership of productive land.

Almarai said the deal is in line with the desert kingdom's policy of "securing supplies and conserving local resources."

Despite its scorching desert climate, Saudi Arabia for decades produced millions of tons of homegrown wheat with the help of generous farm subsidies. It is now trying to wind down domestic production because of concerns over dwindling water supplies.

Fondomonte operates three farms dedicated to producing corn and soybeans, according to Almarai. The Argentine company's website says it also grows barley, rice and sorghum.  Almarai said it plans to use the crops to feed chickens and cattle.

It expects to pay for the deal using in-house cash and loans based on Islamic principles, which generally prohibit the paying of interest.

The Saudi purchase was announced as Argentina's Senate prepared to approve strict new limits on foreign land ownership, designed to protect the South American country's food resources.

The proposed law, already passed by the House, would limit individual foreign ownership of rural land to 2,500 acres per titleholder, and bar any more purchases by foreigners once 15 percent of Argentina's land is foreign owned.

No one knows just how much Argentine land is already in foreign hands. The law would create a nationwide land registry to establish who owns what. President Cristina Fernandez has said the law would not take away land already owned by foreigners.

(Associated Press)

__________________________________________________________________________


Foreign investors are colonizing Africa




No Respect for Property Rights  -  Land stolen from farmers

Indian, Chinese and U.S. companies are among many inking land-investment deals in Africa, including Ethiopia, Tanzania, South Sudan, Mali, and Mozambique. According to a study by the U.S.- based Oakland Institute, foreign investors bought or leased a land area in sub-Saharan Africa about the size of France in 2009 alone.

American universities’ trusts (including Harvard’s) are also buying up land, reportedly displacing millions of farmers in the process.

Advocates say the land is being taken from indigenous communities by often violent means, and that land rights are handed over without proper contracts after closed-door deals. A lack of regulations in these countries allows foreign firms to purchase or lease large tracts of arable land, leaving little recourse for displaced residents.

Investors claim to be growing food for the global market that will indirectly alleviate food shortages in Africa, but land is very often used to grow non-edible export commodities such as flowers and biofuels.

For more on this story



________________________________________________________________________

The Road to Serfdom Series

The world is moving toward a modern form of Neo-Serfdom where everyone works for the all-powerful State or businesses controlled by the State.  A world where individual property rights and economic freedom do not exist. 

FREEDOM IS VANISHING:   What happens when the major employers are owned by government backed investment groups, or your food comes from government owned farms, or your news is delivered by so-called "private" corporations but are in reality connected and interconnected to governments?

George Orwell had a name for it:  Big Brother.

Please check out other stories in our Serfdom series.

THE FEDERALIST - "LAND GRAB: 160,000 people thrown off their land."

THE FEDERALIST - "China is buying up Argentina."

THE FEDERALIST - "Corporations use Global Warming to steal land."

THE FEDERALIST - "China wants to buy a huge chunk of Iceland"

THE FEDERALIST - "China to buy up Australian farmland"

THE FEDERALIST - "Brazil takes action to protect their farmlands from foreigners"

THE FEDERALIST - "Saudi Arabian "Food Colonies" in Argentina"

THE FEDERALIST - "China buys oil fields in Texas"

THE FEDERALIST - "America is committing suicide - The Road to Serfdom, Part IV"

THE FEDERALIST - "The Road to Serfdom, Part III"

THE FEDERALIST - "Benito Mussolini was right"

THE FEDERALIST - "The Road to Serfdom, Part II"

________________________________________________________________________

No comments: