Australia

Overseas investors could face fewer hurdles to purchase farmland as the Treasurer proposes "automatic approvals" as part of significant reforms.

A new report details the size and scale of foreign investment, with more than 49mn hectares of Aussie farmland now in overseas ownership. The UK holds the largest share (7.38mn hectares) while China ranks second (6.57mn hectares).

American investors have split up a 21,830ha portfolio of farms among five buyers, including three farming families and the billionaire magnate’s Hancock Agriculture.

Agriculture investment is evolving globally. Once focused on farmland, today’s investors are targeting entire supply chains. Rising costs and flat land prices are pressuring returns, and the focus is shifting to yield, resilience and ESG-linked income.

La CEFC (Australie) et La Caisse (Québec) ont lancé une plateforme agricole diversifiée à grande échelle pour générer des crédits carbone de haute qualité, pour laquelle Rio Tinto sera l’acheteur principal.

La Caisse has invested $200 million alongside a $50 million commitment from the CEFC to create the Meldora platform (Meldora), managed by Australian agriculture and natural capital asset manager, Gunn Agri Partners (GAP). Meldora has purchased its first asset, a broadacre and irrigation farm of more than 15,000 hectares in Central Queensland.

New Forests, a Mitsui- and Nomura-backed manager specializing in nature-based real assets and natural capital strategies, is acquiring a 50 percent stake in McPhee Beef Farms, a large-scale beef breeding enterprise in the New England region of New South Wales, Australia

US investors have poured billions into Aussie farmland in recent years including many purchases made without FIRB scrutiny, leading some to question the current rules.

Billionaires, North American pension funds and some of Australia’s most prominent pastoral families have claimed stakes in NSW farmland, according to The Weekly Times’ 10th annual Who Owns Australia’s Farm investigation.

Billionaires, North American pension funds and some of Australia’s most prominent pastoral families have claimed stakes in NSW farmland, according to The Weekly Times’ 10th annual Who Owns Australia’s Farm investigation.

Farmland investors say a tax imposed uniquely by Queensland on foreign-owned agricultural land is having a “chilling effect” on new investment and prompting existing offshore investors to divest Queensland assets and replace them with investments in other states.

One of the country's biggest agricultural landholders is set to hit the auction block after Macquarie Asset Management told investors it would take its Paraway Pastoral Company to market after 17 years of ownership.