Tag Archives: argentina
These Farms Could Grow Your Wealth
Posted on June 10, 2013 by Juan Federico Fischer Uruguay has some of the most fertile soil in the world. The case for owning farmland as a strategy to safely grow or preserve your nest egg has never been stronger. Increasing populations and wealth in emerging economies is the primary driver. As people in these economies become richer, they eat more food. Drought (or too much rain) has caused havoc with harvests in major producers like Canada, the Ukraine and parts of Brazil in recent years. The countries producing food are restricting trade, as they fear shortages. Looking to the medium term, we can expect food prices to continue to trend up. And the best place to find productive farmland is Uruguay . With consistent appreciation and an annual cash return Uruguayan farmland is a great store of value in turbulent times. Nestling between Argentina, Brazil and the Atlantic Uruguay is peaceful, stable and has over 2.6 million acres of farmland under cultivation. Lying unused are more than 4 million acres suitable for cultivation. The land is mostly flat—perfect for the machinery needed. And water isn’t a problem. Much of the country sits on the world’s largest aquifer and rainfall is even and year-round. It’s easy to find good land. The country is among the most fertile in the world. Uruguay has non-degraded soil producing two crops a year and healthy grass-fed cattle. The country supplies 5% of global beef exports; it’s the 6th largest producer of soya beans…and the 4th biggest exporter of rice. The case gets stronger when you hear how free you are to sell your crops wherever and whenever you find a willing buyer. There are no export tariffs, or production quotas or other restrictions like there are in other parts of the world. There are also no limitations on what you—as a foreign buyer— can buy…and you are treated as a local under the law. It’s probably the easiest place for the individual farmland investor. It’s a passive, turnkey investment. You don’t need to know anything about farming. You can lease out the land for a cash rental paid up front, or you can hire a local farm management company that reports on operations directly to you. They’ll give you a business plan. Once you agree on that with them they will implement it on your behalf. The cost of land ranges from $900 to $5,000 per acre. If you buy land and lease it to a farmer you can expect a yield of around 4%. Go with a management company and you can expect a higher yield, perhaps around 6% to 8%. Here’s a recent example of what’s on offer: A farm in the western part of Uruguay near the colonial town of Colonia. This is where you’ll find some of the best land in Uruguay. It’s 120 acres and the price is $485,000—$4,041 an acre. Then there’s the appreciation potential farmland offers you. Over the last eight years, farmland has appreciated at an annual rate of above 15%. You can expect the appreciation to continue, at about 10% yearly. Continue reading
EIA Data Shows US Imports Of Biomass-Based Diesel Spiked In March
Taylor Scott International Continue reading
The Paradoxes Of EU Agricultural Policy
The European Union is among the world’s top five exporters of agricultural products with USA, Brazil, China and Argentina, and it is among the world’s top five importers of agricultural products with USA, China, Japan and Russia. Agriculture is one of the most important sectors of social and economic development within the EU. Over the years, the aims of EU agricultural policy have been to develop a competitive economy and create harmony among EU Countries. However, the result of this work has been a fragmented, contradictory, and unworkable legislative framework that threatens economic disaster. A review on the paradoxes of European agricultural policies will be published soon on the Journal Trends in Plant Science . In this review, the authors present case studies, in which the differences in the regulation applied to food grown in EU Countries and to the same imported products are noted. The highlighted differences show that the EU is hampering its own competitiveness in agriculture and consequently damaging both the EU and its humanitarian activities in the developing world. The review is especially focused on genetically engineered crops. It is not clear why the common agricultural policy (CAP) establishes restrictive measures for EU agricultural productions but the same measures are not observed for the same products imported from the countries where genetically modified organisms (GMOs) are authorized and thresholds of mycotoxines are lower. This is only one of the several paradoxes of the EU agricultural policy that, giving strict thresholds only to its own productions, is reducing the competitiveness of European agricultural on the world market. Another example of political inefficiency regards the subsidies policy that has a positive effect in short time but is not a significant tool to develop a competitive economy in the long term. The authors underline the need to implement the biotechnological findings, to harmonize and rationalize the common policy on both the EU production and genetically engineered crops importation, to harmonize the current measures of Member States and reduce the differences among them, to decentralize the rural economy measures and allow the farmers to use cost-saving technologies that can enhance the sustainability of the agricultural systems, etc. Finally, the authors conclude recommending the adoption of rational, science-based strategies to harmonize the different agricultural policies to prevent the economic decline and the reduction of living quality across the European Union. Source: Masip G., Sabalza M., Perez-Massot E., Banakar R., Cebrian D., Twyman R.M., Capell T., Albajes R., Christou P., ‘ Paradoxical EU agricultural policies on genetically engineered crops ’, Trends in Plant Science , 2013, in press. Publication date: 5/9/2013 Author: Emanuela Fontana Continue reading
