About us
The International Competence Center on Large Scale Agriculture (LaScalA) brings together a network of international experts in the field of large farm management. Our major focus is on research into economic, organizational and ethical aspects of large scale farming activities as well as into institutional frameworks that enable the development of large agricultural enterprises.
In focus
18 June 2018
International Financial Institutions (IFIs): How much money do agroholdings need? More!
Overview -International financial institutions (IFIs) play an important role in the capital formation of large agroholdings. In order to expand their businesses, agroholdings conclude many loan agreements with various IFIs every year. This allows agricultural companies to build new production facilities, invest in new technologies and expand their land operations. On the other hand, such activities are often criticized in Western countries, because IFIs get their funding predominantly from Western taxpayers.
News
23 June 2018
MHP's giant poulty farm accused of water pollution
News -Residents of the three Ukrainian villages Zaozerne, Kleban and Olyanytsya filed a complaint to EBRD, protesting against the development of the giant Vinnytsia Poultry Farm owned by Mironivsky Hliboproduct (known as MHP). The farm housing over 17 million chickens and planning to double its production by 2021 is said to be a source of environmental pollution. The villagers complain that water levels in their wells have fallen and the quality of the river water became worse. MHP stated that it has no relation to the disappearance of the water in the wells, because the water for the production needs of the poultry factory is taken exclusively from the South Buh River. The water is then cleaned and returned to the river in better quality than it was before the extraction.
22 June 2018
Greenpeace against a new mega dairy farm in New Zealand
News -Murray Valentine, the owner of Simons Pass Station, plans to develop another dairy farm in the Mackenzie Basin. The new farm should contain three dairy sheds and 14 houses for 15,000 dairy cows. Greenpeace launched a "Save the Mackenzie" petition which had been signed by 28,679 people so far. The reason why Greenpeace disapproves the development of a new farm is the fact that Mackenzie Basin is a home to 18 threatened plants and four threatened bird species.
22 June 2018
Investment company to buy farmland in Australia
News -Agricultural investment company Growth Farms has launched Australian Agricultural Lease Fund worth of $ 100 million in order to buy farms throughout Australia in the next few years and then lease them to farmers. The managing director of Growth Farms, David Sackett, said that the fund would buy medium-sized farms in the $ 3 to $ 8 million category in North Queensland, Northern New South Wales, Southern Murray Darling Basin, Victoria, Tasmania and South Australia. According to him, the advantage of leasing is that it gives farmers an opportunity to expand without having to buy land.
21 June 2018
Bird flu outbreak confirmed at Damate Group
News -470,000 turkeys infected with avian influenza virus (known informally as bird flu) were detected at one of the production sites of the largest Russian turkey producer, Damate Group, controlled by Naum Babayev, in Penza region. The sick animals representing 10% of the total number of birds at the company (4.7 million) will have to be culled. The estimated financial losses of the company amount to 400 million rubles ($ 6.3 milion). Part of the losses will be covered by insurance.
All news can be found in the archive:
