(U.S. company) Cargill may have broken law over Colombia land buying -Oxfam

[Judi Lynn]

Last edited Sat Sep 28, 2013, 12:57 PM - Edit history (2)

Source: Reuters

Cargill may have broken law over Colombia land buying -Oxfam

By Peter Murphy

BOGOTA, Sept 27 | Thu Sep 26, 2013 11:59pm EDT

(Reuters) - U.S. commodities trader Cargill bought a large area of farming land in Colombia many times bigger than the legal limit by setting up dozens of "shell companies", violating the spirit of agrarian reform laws, charity Oxfam said in a report Friday.

In the research report "Divide and Purchase," Oxfam says Cargill set up the companies to buy land up to the legal limit for any individual or company, to farm all of the adjoining land as a single plantation and get around restrictions designed to promote distribution of land to smallholder farmers.

Oxfam says that Cargill's purchase of at least 52,576 hectares (130,000 acres) in the eastern Altillanura plains through companies registered from 2010 and 2012, all listing the same agricultural activity and address, may have broken the law.

"The company violated the spirit of the law by accumulating an area at least 30 times greater than the permitted limit," Oxfam said in its report which also listed other lesser known local and foreign companies it said also circumvented land laws.

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/09/27/cargill-colombia-idUSL2N0HM1A220130927?rpc=401

[Judi Lynn]

1. Report on Cargill Fuels Colombia Land Controversy

Report on Cargill Fuels Colombia Land Controversy
September 27, 2013, 3:01 p.m. ET

By SARA SCHAEFER MUÑOZ

BOGOTÁ, Colombia—U.S. food giant Cargill Inc. acquired 30 times more Colombian land than legal restrictions allow, claimed Oxfam International, the latest allegation amid legislators' questioning of land purchases by large corporations operating in the South American country.

A unit of the nongovernmental organization which works on poverty-related issues said in a report released on Friday that Cargill accumulated close to 130,000 acres of farmland in eastern Colombia—an area six times the size of Manhattan—in transactions that deprived small farmers of land and could "exacerbate inequality and social conflict."

Cargill officials deny their purchases violated Colombian law.

"We have a high degree of confidence that what we did was fully within the laws of Colombia," said a Cargill spokeswoman, adding that Cargill's investment in growing soy and corn has provided 200 jobs, electricity, housing and bus service in a severely underdeveloped area.

Colombia has one of the highest levels of landownership concentration in Latin America. The purchases of large tracts by single entities have attracted criticism in a country where many people see land distribution as the root cause of a civil conflict that has left nearly a quarter million people dead over five decades.

More:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304795804579101283708868494.html

[Judi Lynn]

2. More telling information from the article immediately above:

~snip~
The deals took place in Colombia's scantly populated high plains, considered one of the world's last untapped agricultural frontiers.

The acquisitions by Cargill and others mostly took place from 2010-2012, and cumulatively involve the acquisition of around 300 square miles of land.

The transactions have become a flashpoint for debate because the parcels were originally federal land that was awarded to small farmers through a program aimed at land reform and poverty reduction.

The small farmers have a right to sell, but in most cases, Colombian law limits how much a single buyer could acquire to prevent concentration of property in the hands of a wealthy few, according to legal experts.

The Oxfam report said Cargill created 36 companies to purchase 39 properties, allegedly evading such limits.

.....

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304795804579101283708868494.html

[Judi Lynn]

3. Multinational grabs Colombia land through loophole in property laws: Oxfam report

Multinational grabs Colombia land through loophole in property laws: Oxfam report
posted by Steven Cohen
Sep 28, 2013

Cargill International, the world’s largest agricultural commodities trader, used a network of shell corporations to take advantage of a program the Colombian government initiated to provide land-rights access to small-scale agro-producers, according to a report released Thursday by the Oxfam International human rights and poverty development group.

The report implies that Cargill may be in violation of Act 160, the law establishing Colombia’s system of land redistribution, in which government lands, baldios, are sold at reduced prices to small-scale farming families. Included in the law are a series of regulations, delineating who can utilize the program, and how much land any one individual purchaser can acquire.

Oxfam does not settle the legal question definitively, but regardless of whether Cargill Intl. is guilt of any crime, the company’s actions, as laid out in the report, are in clear and direct violation of the law’s original intent.

With over 80% of land in the hands of 14% of landowners, Colombia has one of the most skewed distribution of land ownership in the world, a legacy of its traditionally aristocratic social structure.

More:
http://colombiareports.co/worlds-largest-land-trader-circumvents-colombias-property-laws-oxfam-intl-report/