Farming money

The report argues that excessive financial speculation in agricultural commodity derivatives and the financing of land grabs by European banks, pension funds, and insurance companies contribute to food price volatility and human rights abuses. It identifies key institutions such as Deutsche Bank, Barclays, and BNP Paribas as significant actors in these markets and recommends strict EU regulations, including position limits and bans on index funds for agricultural commodities, to protect the right to food.

• Excessive speculation in commodity derivatives has detached prices from underlying supply and demand, increasing the frequency and scale of food price volatility and contributing to speculative bubbles.
• The growth of agrofuels has created a demand shock, diverting land and crops from food production and significantly increasing prices for maize, wheat, rapeseed, soybean oil, and palm oil.
• Large-scale land acquisitions, or 'land grabs', are driven by food security concerns, agrofuel targets, and the pursuit of profit from land value, often resulting in the loss of local community access to natural resources and forced evictions.
• Several major European financial institutions are identified as primary actors in trading agricultural commodity futures and related complex instruments, specifically Deutsche Bank, Barclays, ABP, Allianz, and BNP Paribas.
• European financial institutions have provided direct or indirect financing to agribusinesses linked to land grabs and human rights abuses, with specific examples including ABP in Mozambique, AXA in India, and HSBC in Uganda.
• Direct investment in farmland by European entities is documented in several regions, such as Allianz's investment in Bulgaria, Deutsche Bank's investment in Brazil, and Generali's purchases in Romania.
• The report recommends that the EU introduce 'hard position limits' to cap the size of speculative bets and ban institutional investors, such as pension funds, from agricultural commodity derivatives markets.

APA

Friends of the Earth International (n.d.). Farming money. https://www.foei.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Farming_money_FoEE_Jan2012.pdf

Chicago

Friends of the Earth International. Farming money. n.d. https://www.foei.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Farming_money_FoEE_Jan2012.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Friends of the Earth International |title=Farming money |url=https://www.foei.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Farming_money_FoEE_Jan2012.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{friendsoftheearthinternationalndfarming, author = {{Friends of the Earth International}}, title = {{Farming money}}, institution = {Friends of the Earth International}, url = {https://www.foei.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Farming_money_FoEE_Jan2012.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }