http://www.observer.com/hedge-funds-running-farms-05172011Soros is of course doing the same. Wonder if this is part of the bullion drop? The hedgies realized you couldn't eat it?
Point is more people are seeing the writing on the wall
However before you run right out and buy some, keep in mind
1) Farmland is usually the first thing confiscated by Communist regimes,
2) during the fall of Rome, laws were passed to keep farmers on their land, prevent them from sellng it, and taxed/fined them for not producing and selling at the approved price. (The fall of Rome has some very Atlas Shrugged aspects to it)
3) traditional Farmland is large and often remote from neighbors making - making it hard to defend.
They go after the producers during a collapse - so you need to be a producer but not look like you are on paper. Less fertile an smaller land may be a better choice- especially if you have nearby access to National forest or other government land you just press into service when you need it.