The U.S. investment giant TIAA-CREF “prides itself on upholding socially responsible values,” including environmental sustainability and respect for land rights, reports the New York Times. “But documents show that TIAA-CREF’s forays into the Brazilian agricultural frontier may have gone in another direction.” The Times says the financial giant has teamed with Brazilian partners to spend hundreds of millions of dollars to buy “vast new holdings of farmland” despite attempts by Brazil to quash such activities.
TIAA-CREF holds more than 633,000 acres of farmland in Brazil, up from nearly 258,000 acres in 2012. The Times says TIAA-CREF took a minority share in a venture with Cosan, a Brazilian sugar processor and biofuels maker, after the government limited purchases by foreigners. The venture uses many of the same employees as a previous initiative with Cosan. “Moreover, the financing for the farmland acquisitions come largely from TIAA-CREF subsidiaries in a type of loan that can be converted into stock, according to regulatory filings,” said the Times. Researchers at Grain, an organization that tracks global land purchases, “argue that this corporate structure makes it possible for TIAA-CREF to conceal the control it exercises over the farms acquired.”