The following story was first published by EurActiv.com on 24th November 2009.

Liberalising global agricultural trade without any regulation would threaten global food security as private investment funds would buy huge amounts of land in developing countries and produce for profit rather than to feed the poor, Jacques Carles, founder of Momagri, a French think-tank on agriculture, warned EurActiv in an interview.

“If you free international trade without any regulation, only international investment funds and speculators will profit, not the poor,” said Carles, managing director of Momagri (Mouvement pour une organisation mondiale de l’agriculture).

Private investment funds are already rushing to buy agricultural land all over the globe, he warned, adding that “we are heading towards a very dangerous scenario” in which these funds and speculators own huge amounts of land and produce on them according to world demand in order to make a profit.

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