The land grab of 2008
GRAIN reports on what happens when a food crisis meets an economic crisis, and is given a healthy shove by government policies:
On the one hand, “food insecure” governments that rely on imports to feed their people are snatching up vast areas of farmland abroad for their own offshore food production. On the other hand, food corporations and private investors, hungry for profits in the midst of the deepening financial crisis, see investment in foreign farmland as an important new source of revenue. As a result, fertile agricultural land is becoming increasingly privatised and concentrated.
They've also been obsessively collecting news clippings to back up their case.