<P> One addition to many contracts between governments and investors is a Stabilisation Clause, which insulates investors from the effect of changed governmental regulations . Such clauses severely restrict the government's ability to change any regulations that would have a negative economic impact on the investment . While advantageous for businesses, these stabilization clauses would severely hinder the ability of governments to address possible social and / or environmental concerns that become apparent after the beginning of the project . </P> <P> Land investment has been criticized for its implicit endorsement of large - scale industrial agriculture, which relies heavily on costly machinery, fertilizers, pesticides, and other inputs, over smallholder agriculture . As foreign investors begin to develop the land, they will, for the most part, start a shift towards large - scale agriculture to improve upon existing "unproductive" agricultural methods . The threat of the conversion of much of Africa's land to such large - scale agriculture has provoked a severe pushback from many civil society organizations such as GRAIN, La Via Campesina, and other lobbyists for small - scale agriculture . </P> <P> Foreign investors, through large - scale agriculture, increase the effectiveness of underused resources of land, labor, and water, while further providing additional market connections, large - scale infrastructure development, and provision of seeds, fertilizers, and technology . Proposed increases in production quantity, as touted by investors and hosts, are exemplified by Ethiopia's Abera Deressa, who claims that "foreign investors should help boost agricultural output by as much as 40%" throughout Ethiopia . However, large - scale mechanized agricultural production often entails the use of fertilizers and intensive farming techniques that have been criticized by numerous civil society actors as extremely ecologically detrimental and environmentally harmful over the long run . Over time, such intensive farming threatens to degrade the quality of topsoil and damage local waterways and ecosystems . As such, civil society actors have widely accused land investors for promoting "not agricultural development, much less rural development, but simply agribusiness development ." This trend towards large - scale agriculture that overrides local knowledge and sustainable local farming runs directly counter to the recent IAASTD report, backed by the FAO, UNDP, World Bank, and others, that to increase food security over the long term, sustainable peasant agriculture must be encouraged and supported . </P> <P> Foreign investment in land has been criticized by many civil society actors and individuals as a new realization of neocolonialism, signifying a renewed economic imperialism of developed over developing nations . Critics have pointed to the acquisitions of large tracts of land for economic profit, with little perceived benefit for local populations or target nations as a whole, as a renewal of the economically exploitative practices of the colonial period . </P>

In what body of water did most united states land acquisitions lie