New Zealand

Hawke’s Bay apple orchards have been changing hands amid a shake-up to the industry, with the latest significant sale featuring a Dutch newcomer buying a 62-hectare Ongaonga block.

UK local government pension schemes-backed Stafford Carbon Offsets Opportunities Fund has invested $60m to acquire degraded pastureland in south-western Brazil and made a $12m investment in three properties totalling 1,914ha in New Zealand.

MEAG, the asset manager of Munich Re Group, acquired its first apple orchard in New Zealand on behalf of a client pursuing a New Zealand growth strategy in agriculture.

Since 2019, the country has added some 175,000 hectares of tree plantations, almost all the fast-growing, carbon-sucking Pinus radiata pine

Australia-based specialist private markets investment manager Roc Partners is to acquire 25% of the portfolio of rural land assets of New Zealand Rural Land Company for about $44 million.

Mata Reports investigates growing concerns around the group and its elusive managing director, as well as carbon farming’s impact on Māori communities.

Pastoral Partners Australia, a carbon farming and sustainable grazing fund owned by New Zealand infrastructure investor Morrison & Co, has lifted the size of its portfolio to over 100,000 hectares.

An application for a Swiss company to buy an Otago sheep farm to convert to forestry for carbon credits has been declined, making it one of the first decisions to be made under updated legislation.

A report commissioned by Beef and Lamb said the amount of farm land converted to carbon farming was twice what the Climate Change Commission showed in a 2021 demonstration path would be needed for New Zealand’s path to net-zero.

The Development Bank of Japan annonces investment in fund that will pursue a diversified portfolio of high-quality food and agriculture investments in targeted regions across Australia and New Zealand.

For Minneapolis-based Proterra Investment Partners, the sale represents a second lucrative exit in its agricultural funds, after it sold a 22,386-hectare cropping portfolio in Victoria and South Australia last year.

The $8.7 billion Sydney-based global investor and manager of nature-based property assets has formed New Agriculture to build a much bigger portfolio of agriculture assets.