Grain boom tempts investors to Russia's open farm lands

When Murat Shamshinurov toasted this year's harvest with a glass of vodka, he did so with confidence.

A fleet of new Dutch combine harvesters, better seeds and a mild winter promise a bumper crop at the farms he runs in Russia's fertile Black Earth region. This prosperity is the result of a $175 million investment by Nastyusha, the grain-trading firm that bought the land in 2006.

Shamshinurov's situation is not unique: investors are ploughing money into Russia's open lands to resuscitate the long-neglected farm sector and supply a world in ever greater need of food. This year's Russian wheat crop promises to be the best in 30 years.