Australia

Australian Ag Minister supports banning all foreign governments and foreign state-owned companies from buying Australian farmland, saying such acquisitions could “undermine the national interest”.

Competition is growing between Australia's major rural land selling agents as major institutional and private investors seek to gain a foothold in the growth area of agriculture.

A hedge fund run by an arm of the world's largest agricultural company, Cargill, has enjoyed another strong profit from its Australian farming investment – the land and logistics company BFB Group.

Of the 600 hectares of farmland that KAI has cleared and prepared, roughly 250 hectares will be dedicated to the chia, with sweet sorghum to be planted next.

Vicstock Grain and its Chinese backers (Beidahuang) have dramatically scaled back their cropping operations in the Wheatbelt three years after a $70 million spending spree on farmland.

One of China’s largest beef producers, Honda Agriculture, is looking to buy up to $100 million worth of cattle property in Australia over the next 12 months.

Alternative investment management firm Blue Sky is targeting North American institutional investors with a new strategy that will invest in Australian agriculture and related industries.

A Chinese company developing farm land in the Ord River area has warned it will not proceed with the project under a raft of conditions set out by Australia's environmental watchdog.

One of Canada's largest pension funds, the Public Sector Pension Investment Board, has made its first rural land purchase in Australia through central Queensland's Hewitt Cattle Company.

Giant US investment fund TIAA-CREF expects Australia's ageing farmers and a lack of sons and daughters willing to inherit their farms will lead to large numbers of properties hitting the market over the coming decade.

Australia's National Farmers’ Federation has criticised the Abbott government’s reduced threshold for foreign farm purchases.

The announcement of the sale - which is expected to attract significant foreign interest - comes a month after the government said it would clamp down on foreign ownership of agricultural land.