New Zealand

"Al Shariqi said that while the government does not have foreign agricultural investments, some UAE sheikhs personally own land in Pakistan, Egypt, Australia and New Zealand," reports the US mission in Abu Dhabi

Cash-rich overseas pension funds and investors have been scouting for New Zealand dairy farm investments,

While everyone from the Rothschild’s – via the Agrifirma Brazil fund, run with Jim Slater – through to Nicola Horlick and UBS are snapping up farmland in Brazil, I’m fascinated by another niche: Canada and New Zealand.

Despite criticism for Chinese efforts to acquire large-scale farmland in Africa, China is seen continuing to aggressively pursue acquisitions in other countries. says Michael Whitehead, executive director of the food and agribusiness research and advisory unit at Rabobank International.

The next six to 12 months may be the best time in five years to buy a dairy farm or a share in one, according to investment company MyFarm in New Zealand. The global recession has not changed anything.

Faced with high land values and falling milk prices at home, a growing number of New Zealand dairy farmers are investing in South America, the United States, eastern Europe and Russia.

Since 1999, The Ingleby Company has bought about 17 farms. The company runs just under 20,000ha of land with 130,000 stock units, most of which are sheep and cattle.