Social justice group objects to size of Cargill's land holdings in Colombia
Social justice group objects to size of Cargill's land holdings in Colombia
Article by: MIKE HUGHLETT , Star Tribune
Updated: September 27, 2013 - 12:09 AM
A Cargill-owned entity now has nearly 130,000 agricultural acres in Colombia, where farm size is limited. Not fair, says the group Oxfam.
A Cargill-owned investment firm has stitched together huge holdings of farmland in Colombia, a move that social justice group Oxfam says violates the “spirit” of Colombian law and its goal of distributing land to smaller farming operations. But Minnetonka-based Cargill Inc. says that its Colombian farm project complies with the South American country’s laws and that it sharply disagrees with Oxfam’s conclusions, which are being released in a report Friday.
Cargill, an agribusiness giant and one of the world’s largest private companies, rarely invests directly in land. The company’s Colombia holdings were acquired by Cargill’s Black River Asset Management, a large private equity outfit primarily focused on financial markets.
Corporate purchases of farmland globally have been growing in recent years, as agricultural assets are generally seen as sound investments; feeding the world is a challenge that’s not disappearing anytime soon. In Colombia, Oxfam noted, Cargill’s investment isn’t the only case of large-scale land acquisition.
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