Investment

26 February 2023 - The Brazilian “Cerrado”: a textbook case of “modern” agricultural development based on resources grabbing, collusion and violence

Brazil’s agricultural “miracle” and its dark side... [read]

2022

25 April 2022 - Synthetic biology: solution or dangerous delusion?

A techno-economic solution to fix the problems of our food systems [read].

Investment in agriculture

The analysis of investment in agriculture helps to figure out in which direction agriculture (and food) will evolve in the years to come. [read]

2019

Opinions: World Bank dispossessing rural poor by Jomo Kwame Sundaram and Anis Chowdhury.

By promoting private investment in agriculture, the World Bank commodifies land and accelerates the dispossession of family farmers of their main source of livelihood. [read]

11 April 2019 - How far will financial speculation go? After prices, pandemics - What next…?

Perverse financial instrument, the Ebola “pandemic bonds” of the World Bank have paid, in two years, more than $110 million to speculators, while only $20 million were used to fight against the on-going pandemic in DRC. [read]

5 April 2019 - In the global food system, the “farm-tech revolution” could shift the balance of power to the detriment of the weakest

Increased efficiency, less costs and waste, but also greater concentration of power and accelerated marginalisation of the weakest... [read]

Opinions: World Bank Financializing Development by Jomo Kwame Sundaram and Anis Chowdhury.

Priority given to financializing development opens up wide opportunities for private capital and threatens to undermine social and environmental development objectives, while weakening public financial organisations by making them bear most of the risk. [read]

6 March 2019 - Côte d’Ivoire decides to work with chocolate majors for a more sustainable management of tropical forests: should we be concerned?

Will the chocolate multinationals put restoration of forest cover above their economic interests? What implications for cocoa producers? [read]

2018

22 November 2018 - Is « Big Data » remodeling our food system?

Merging of agrifood giants, vertical integration within value chains, drones, DNA editing, blockchains, are examples of changes that have the potential to disrupt our food system. [read]

Privatisation of development assistance:

integrating further agriculture into the world market

The growing role left by governments to the privage sector transforms modalities of agricultural development in poor countries, to the detriment of the mass of farmers who are, to a large extent, excluded. [read]

2017

26 November 2017 - Large manoeuvres in the global food system: concentration and financialisation consolidate its industrial nature

Increased risks of monopolistic behaviour, dissipation of accountability, obstacles to innovation constitute threats on the sustainaility of our food. [lire]

7 November 2017 - How tax evasion reinforces financial power, weakens public institutions and policies and perpetuates dependence

The vacuum created in public finance by tax evasion allows the private sector, especially private finance, to increase its influence on governments’ activities. [read]

29 July 2017 - Climate finance : for whom is the World Bank working?

Global finance intends to sharpen its instruments to take over our food and agriculture, on the ground of combatting climate change. [read]

10 March 2017 - What are the challenges to be met in order to secure a sustainable future for our food system?

Technology, dynamics of food and agricultural value chains and governance deficit are the main factors explaining the crisis of our food system. They determine the challenges to meet in order to secure a sustainable future. [read]

6 February 2017 - The World Economic Forum’s “New Vision for Agriculture” is moving ahead on the ground…

Make large multinationals the masters of the food and agriculture sector, by funding them in part by rich countries’ taxpayers and to the detriment of hundreds of millions of small family farmers... [read]

2016

25 August 2016 - European Companies and Land Grabbing: evidence of human rights violation

A study commissioned by the European Parliament demonstrates that involvement of EU-based companies in land grabbing and violations of human rights have been grossly underestimated. [read]

24 March 2016 - The European Union investigates on the New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition

A study by O. De Schutter for the European Parliament identifies major flaws of actions undertaken by the New Alliance in Africa. [read]

2015

8 February 2015 - The New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition in Africa: focus on land and seeds

A report prepared by GRAIN and AFSA provides details on actions taken by the New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition of the G8 in the area of land and seeds in Africa. [read]

2014

20 October 2014 - Will the Principles for Responsible Investment in Agriculture and Food Systems really protect the interests of rural communities?

We may doubt it as they do not impose prior approval of investments by impacted rural communities and their implementation will be in full respect of existing international contracts and agreements related to trade and investment. [read]

11 October 2014 - The Global Alliance for Climate-Smart Agriculture: a new tool for an enlightened capitalism?

Launched a little more than two years after the launching of the New Alliance for Food Security, this coalition of governments, associations and private companies seeks to promote a more climate-smart agriculture. But will it operate in the interests of the more vulnerable? [read]

7 June 2014 - The New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition: a coup for corporate capital? by N. McKeon

Launched on eve of the G7 meeting of 4 June, the report critically analyses the history, concepts and actors of the New Alliance. [read]

4 April 2014 - Bringing people out of poverty by connecting them to the global economy: USAID’s Global Development Lab

On 3 April, USAID launched its ‘‘Global Development Lab to Help End Extreme Poverty by 2030’’, a multibillion dollar partnership between USAID, multinational corporations, CSO organisations and universities. It is not clear how the interests of the people who are supposed to be graduating out of poverty are being effectively considered in the goals of the partnerships initiated by the Lab. [read]

2013

5 October 2013 - A first analysis of the implementation of the G8’s New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition confirms worries about this initiative

[read]

14 June 2013 - Hunger, markets and good feelings: how hunger feeds profits of multinationals

[read]