Big Money Targets Small Argentine Farms

"Over the last 10 years, there’ve been dramatic changes in Argentine agriculture. Many small soybean producers have been put out of business, and the sector is consolidating fast. Despite the tough environment, many smaller farmers continue to survive, but their days could be numbered," reports John Kennedy for Corn and Soybean Digest.

The old story of fewer but bigger farms is starting to show up in the statistics here.  Farmland is too expensive for small farmers to buy and is being snapped up by farming investment funds and foreign buyers.

The national government passed a law last week limiting foreign ownership of rural land to 2,500 acres per titleholder, and bar any more purchases by foreigners once 15% of Argentina's land is foreign owned.

Hours before the passage of the law, however, Saudi Arabia, was allowed to purchase 30,000 acres.  That acreage will be devoted to producing feed for Saudi animals.