Australia

In its second swoop on prime northern NSW cattle country this year, Chinese-owned pastoral business, Rifa Salutary, has snapped up another two aggregations for an estimated $55 million.

Le gouvernement australien vient de rendre public son registre des exploitations agricoles. Surprise : ce ne sont pas des groupes chinois qui possèdent le plus de terres, mais des investisseurs britanniques et américains.

US giant TIAA's Westchester has purchased a major part of northern NSW cropping farm Milton Downs from Australia's biggest wheat grower Greentree Farming for a figure some estimate to be in the vicinity of $50 million.

The Chinese company joining forces with Gina Rinehart to buy the Kidman cattle empire has one hurdle to clear in a separate deal to secure a cluster of stations in the Goldfields.

En Australie, une campagne de financement participatif est en cours pour acheter les ranchs du roi du bétail australien, Sydney Kidman.

Tasmanian senator says she will grill officials when they front Senate Estimates later this year over FIRB's history of approving foreign farm and asset purchases against the national interest.

Shanghai Zhongfu-owned Kimberley Agricultural Investments is the new owner of Carlton Hill and Ivanhoe, which operate as one station on the doorstep of Kununurra.

A government-commissioned report into the regulatory burden imposed on Australian farmers has advised the federal government to lift "red tape" surrounding foreign investment in local agriculture.

Draft report on Australia agriculture regulation calls for the sale of any farmland or agribusiness worth less than $250 million to foreign interests to be exempt from any review process.

A China-led consortium seeking to buy Australia's S. Kidman & Co will hold off on a fresh bid for the country's largest agricultural land owner amid concerns it could be derailed by a more protectionist new government, two sources with direct knowledge of the matter said.

Australia's business and legal communities are calling for a simplification of the policy under which there are six different monetary thresholds for prospective foreign investors in agricultural land to overcome.

A new poll by the Lowy Institute found 87 per cent of respondents opposed allowing foreign companies to buy Australian agricultural land — six percentage points higher than a similar survey four years ago.