A few headlines that seems related:
1. George Soros and Jim Rogers Selling Gold, Buying Farmland
Here’s a great trivia question for you.
What asset has appreciated more than any asset since the year 2000?
Answer: Farmland. 1,200%
A fund controlled by George Soros, the billionaire hedge-fund manager, owns 23.4 percent of a South American farmland venture Adecoagro. Commodities are still the best play for the long term and legendary investor guru Jim Rogers confessed that he has been buying farmland himself... the supplies of food are going to continue to be under pressure. This leads me to conclude that agriculture is going to be one of the greatest industries in the next 20 years, 30 years.
http://www.wealthwire.com/news/metals/1769
2. Bill Gates Just Bought $571 Million of This Stock
Recently, Bill Gates made a series of purchases of a stock - Deere & Co. (NYSE: DE), the world's largest farm equipment manufacturer, a leader in the production of equipment and machinery for the construction and forestry industries, and a top producer of lawn and garden tractors for homeowners. Gates has made purchases of about 7.5 mil shares worth about $571 million.
http://www.wealthwire.com/news/headlines/1805
3. Agriculture’s promising potential
Thailand
... to plant rubber and supply latex to a tyre factory.
China currently consumes one-third of the world’s supply of rubber.
Given promising growth prospects for cars, and by extension tyres, in East Asia in the medium term, should Malaysian plantation companies review their near-total dependence on a single crop for their earnings?
Mexico
Earlier this month, Aeromexico became the first airline to use a blend of jatropha biofuel and conventional aviation fuel to power a long-haul trans-Atlantic commercial flight from Mexico City to Madrid.
Last month, US-based technical standards body, the ASTM, cleared airlines to fly passenger planes with a blend of renewable fuel derived from inedible plants and conventional jet fuel. Additionally, mandatory European environmental requirements have prompted many airlines to start using biofuel, a trend that is likely to accelerate.
US
Worldwide, the market for bio-renewable chemicals will reach US$5 billion (RM15 billion) by 2015, one industry estimate suggests.
Three Singular Facts:
- First, increasing demand for palm oil by widening its usage in new sectors is possible only through more research and development (R&D). Since jatropha and soy oil share some similarities with palm oil, some substitution should be possible.
- Second, R&D in biofuel will create high-tech employment opportunities in universities and plantation companies.
- Third, spending on R&D isn’t a cost that can be dispensed with, but a much needed investment for the future.
Two facts need to be remembered. Although oil palms mature in four years, it takes seven years for the tree to reach prime production. A 20-year time frame is equivalent to three planting cycles.
4. Plantation firms have potential to be large energy players
Plantation firms such as Sime Darby, IOI Plantation and KL Kepong have huge potential to emerge as the country's large energy players given their abundance of raw materials for biomass energy.
The big plantations guys in Malaysia will be the Petronas of the future, but it depends much on the incentives given and the framework set by the government.
http://www.bernama.com/bernama/v5/newsindex.php?id=612090
5. 深度旅遊有發展空間
台灣無論在民宿或生態旅遊方面，都建立起極好的口碑，每年在不同的季節吸引外國遊客蜂擁而至，例如每年四、五月間的“客家桐花祭”，滿山白茫茫的油桐花海形成旅遊特點，加上民宿業者引導遊客在繽紛的桐花樹下，參觀當地的人文風情，感受客家人對土地的生活經驗，這種深度旅遊的方式，值得學習與開發。
我國的自然環境得天獨厚，我們的熱帶雨林覆蓋著全國幾乎60%的土地，如此豐富的生態環境乃新加坡甚或其他各國所缺乏的，這種獨特的地理結構帶給我們的特殊自然景觀，曾經受到亞洲旅遊業周刊的推崇，它也是我們發展生態旅遊的最佳條件。東馬如沙巴多山亦多河流溪谷，繁茂的森林裡也是各種野生動物棲身之地。
民宿與生態旅遊不僅可達到休閒減壓目的，同時也能讓遊客在行程中通過各種特別安排的活動，對我國多元文化社會的人文風情、生活習俗有不同的體會和認識，甚至在一些生態活動中，讓遊客進一步瞭解我國的地理環境，提昇對自然與人文資源保護重要性的意識。
http://opinions.sinchew-i.com/node/20841?tid=16
1. George Soros and Jim Rogers Selling Gold, Buying Farmland
Here’s a great trivia question for you.
What asset has appreciated more than any asset since the year 2000?
Answer: Farmland. 1,200%
A fund controlled by George Soros, the billionaire hedge-fund manager, owns 23.4 percent of a South American farmland venture Adecoagro. Commodities are still the best play for the long term and legendary investor guru Jim Rogers confessed that he has been buying farmland himself... the supplies of food are going to continue to be under pressure. This leads me to conclude that agriculture is going to be one of the greatest industries in the next 20 years, 30 years.
http://www.wealthwire.com/news/metals/1769
2. Bill Gates Just Bought $571 Million of This Stock
Recently, Bill Gates made a series of purchases of a stock - Deere & Co. (NYSE: DE), the world's largest farm equipment manufacturer, a leader in the production of equipment and machinery for the construction and forestry industries, and a top producer of lawn and garden tractors for homeowners. Gates has made purchases of about 7.5 mil shares worth about $571 million.
http://www.wealthwire.com/news/headlines/1805
Thailand
... to plant rubber and supply latex to a tyre factory.
China currently consumes one-third of the world’s supply of rubber.
Given promising growth prospects for cars, and by extension tyres, in East Asia in the medium term, should Malaysian plantation companies review their near-total dependence on a single crop for their earnings?
Mexico
Earlier this month, Aeromexico became the first airline to use a blend of jatropha biofuel and conventional aviation fuel to power a long-haul trans-Atlantic commercial flight from Mexico City to Madrid.
Last month, US-based technical standards body, the ASTM, cleared airlines to fly passenger planes with a blend of renewable fuel derived from inedible plants and conventional jet fuel. Additionally, mandatory European environmental requirements have prompted many airlines to start using biofuel, a trend that is likely to accelerate.
US
Worldwide, the market for bio-renewable chemicals will reach US$5 billion (RM15 billion) by 2015, one industry estimate suggests.
Three Singular Facts:
- First, increasing demand for palm oil by widening its usage in new sectors is possible only through more research and development (R&D). Since jatropha and soy oil share some similarities with palm oil, some substitution should be possible.
- Second, R&D in biofuel will create high-tech employment opportunities in universities and plantation companies.
- Third, spending on R&D isn’t a cost that can be dispensed with, but a much needed investment for the future.
Two facts need to be remembered. Although oil palms mature in four years, it takes seven years for the tree to reach prime production. A 20-year time frame is equivalent to three planting cycles.
4. Plantation firms have potential to be large energy players
Plantation firms such as Sime Darby, IOI Plantation and KL Kepong have huge potential to emerge as the country's large energy players given their abundance of raw materials for biomass energy.
The big plantations guys in Malaysia will be the Petronas of the future, but it depends much on the incentives given and the framework set by the government.
http://www.bernama.com/bernama/v5/newsindex.php?id=612090
5. 深度旅遊有發展空間
台灣無論在民宿或生態旅遊方面，都建立起極好的口碑，每年在不同的季節吸引外國遊客蜂擁而至，例如每年四、五月間的“客家桐花祭”，滿山白茫茫的油桐花海形成旅遊特點，加上民宿業者引導遊客在繽紛的桐花樹下，參觀當地的人文風情，感受客家人對土地的生活經驗，這種深度旅遊的方式，值得學習與開發。
我國的自然環境得天獨厚，我們的熱帶雨林覆蓋著全國幾乎60%的土地，如此豐富的生態環境乃新加坡甚或其他各國所缺乏的，這種獨特的地理結構帶給我們的特殊自然景觀，曾經受到亞洲旅遊業周刊的推崇，它也是我們發展生態旅遊的最佳條件。東馬如沙巴多山亦多河流溪谷，繁茂的森林裡也是各種野生動物棲身之地。
民宿與生態旅遊不僅可達到休閒減壓目的，同時也能讓遊客在行程中通過各種特別安排的活動，對我國多元文化社會的人文風情、生活習俗有不同的體會和認識，甚至在一些生態活動中，讓遊客進一步瞭解我國的地理環境，提昇對自然與人文資源保護重要性的意識。
http://opinions.sinchew-i.com/node/20841?tid=16
