06/16/08 Food Investors

Want to hear something scary? How about big financial investors buying farmland, grain elevators and shipping equipment? Has a familiar ring to it doesn't it, or should I say cha-ching. These investors state that their plan is to turn small farms into larger, more productive ones and to bring new technology and capitol to the table. But what would that mean in the long run? Are these big players ready to commit to the ups and downs of farming, or will their main objective be solely profits? I'm betting on the latter. One financial representative dismissed the suggestion that investors would be tempted to hold back inventories to move prices artificially stating, "It is not in our best interests for anyone to be negatively affected by what we do." What they are not saying is that they expect the world's need for food to increase drastically over the next several years and when it does they will have the corner on the market, and there is only one reason to corner the market; to make money. A wolf in sheep's clothing is still a wolf.