100 Million Acres of Green Gold

Technocrat

100 Million Acres of Green Gold

zogger

Fri Aug 01 15:49:00 -0700 2008

The+Gentleman+Farmer

manage

Along with the energy crisis that has been unfolding has been a food crisis, and on top of that one of the great debates, using farmland for biofuels. Some of that controversy might be eliminated soon, as farmers from around the world are descending on long abandoned and incredibly rich Russian farmland, 100 million acres worth that has been sitting idle.

Roll that out across Russia and, without touching any virgin land, Russia could be providing the world with up to 300m tonnes of cereals a year - making it the third largest cereal producer behind China and America. ed.z.: I had no idea at all! I've heard of big US farmers going to Africa or south America, but not Russia. This is going to be like a gold rush. The guys who get in early and can lock in some big acreages are going to do *well*. And there will be ancillary support jobs as well, think of all the new equipment dealers this will mean, leading to more manufacturing, fertilizer and seed guys, the little towns that can be thriving again with all the various stores and shops they'll need. Tons more good jobs, tons more food. Really, it is looking more and more like the BRIC nations will be the powerhouses of this century, because they are pushing for real wealth creation, farming, manufacturing, mining, energy extraction, etc. Real stuff rules.

Infrastructure?

Wayne Gramlich

Fri Aug 01 16:14:15 -0700 2008
manage

How do they get all the wheat to market? Are there adequate roads, railroads, canals? How do they get fuel to run their machines? Where to they get their spare parts when something breaks?

Infrastructure?

TykeClone

Fri Aug 01 16:19:21 -0700 2008
manage

My brother works IT for a small ag equipment manufacturer and they've been selling a lot of equipment in Russia.

Although I've not heard this from him, I've heard that they'll buy two brand new John Deere tractors at a time - 1 to use and 1 for parts - because of the spare parts situation over there.

Infrastructure?

rubycodez

Fri Aug 01 20:39:17 -0700 2008
manage

Dubai is investing billions in Russia's global transport, logistics, and real estate. development

100 Million Acres of Green Gold

President4242

Fri Aug 01 18:36:14 -0700 2008
manage

I hear there's plenty of fallow rich fertile farmland around Chernobyl that could be used to produce biofuels if you don't mind the radioactive content.

100 Million Acres of Green Gold

isdnip

Fri Aug 01 20:05:54 -0700 2008
manage

I'm sure you were just being snarky (haha) but Chernobyl is not in Russia. It's in Ukraine, near the border of Belarus; the latter has a huge amount of contaminated land.

Russia had an earlier nuclear accident at Kyshtym, near Chelyabinsk.

Still, doing business in Russia is tough. Foreigners have often found that the Putin regime will push them out if the business is worthwhile. Russia's now swimming in money, due to high oil prices (it's second to Saudi Arabia, I think, in exports), so they can afford to own their own businesses. Indeed with that money they're starting to buy up ours.

100 Million Acres of Green Gold

Uncle Entity

Sat Aug 02 16:53:55 -0700 2008
manage

They had a story on the Beeb about a couple of Brits who bought up some land in Russia to farm. Their major opposition was from inefficient still extant commie communes whining about their modern farming methods not producing enough jobs.

My main worry is that this 'global food crisis' turns out to be yet another inflationary boom requiring even more subsidies to prop up all the overproduction coming on line in response to the devalued dollar and ethanol subsidies.