Chinese firm's farmland purchase sparks fears

ABC News | 8 November 2012
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The farms, which have been purchased by the Heilonghiang Feng group, grow grain. (Photo: William West/AFP)

A Great Southern farmer has voiced concerns about a Chinese company's $29 million purchase of a large area of prime, grain-growing land in Western Australia's south.

The Heilongjiang Feng group has completed the purchase of 23,000 hectares of land previously owned by Dennis Joyce's family companies.

The land includes several properties in the Great Southern, including around Newdegate and Lake King.

Newdegate farmer Trevor de Landgrafft says he fears the move could have a significant impact on rural communities and even lead to increased costs.

"Where they'd mostly impact us in this close-looped system may well be they wouldn't utilise the local machinery dealers and the other infrastructure that normally everyone does use and that creates a critical mass that keeps the businesses here that we all use," he said.

"That property may well have had three or four families who were, if not part owners, they would have at least been working there supplying a local workforce and the kids would have been at school and those parents would have been attending local functions and sporting facilities.

"In rural areas, we're getting pretty thin on the ground."

The WA Farmers Federation says it also has concerns about the transaction.

President Dale Park says the extent of the impact is uncertain but it could hurt local farmers.

"If they're closed-loop marketing, that could be a potential negative but I think that certainly the Chinese are aware of public opinion and how people feel about them," he said.

"The Chinese especially are probably more sensitive to that kind of thing than any of the other foreign investors."

He says the situation is creating uncertainty.

"That's helping out not so much the agricultural industry, it's probably helping out the banking industry at this stage but it's going to be a wait and see," he said.

"The reality is we've got very little amounts of foreign investment in agriculture at the moment, so we're into the unknowns."

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Chinese corporation buys big farming business

ABC News | 7 November 2012

Chinese investors have purchased more than 20,000 hectares of agricultural land in the state's south, after the demise of one of the state's biggest farming businesses.

Chinese company, the Heilongjiang Feng group, has paid nearly $30 million for the land, which includes the Lake Varley property near Hyden and other Great Southern properties.

The land was previously owned by Dennis Joyce's family companies, which collapsed earlier this year with debts exceeding $70 million, leaving several WA firms out of pocket.

The collapse sparked a bitter legal dispute between the Joyce family, creditors and the National Australia Bank.

The receivers say unsecured creditors will receive no return from the sale, but action is continuing to recover $1 million of stolen farm equipment.

The group's purchase continues significant Chinese agricultural investment in the Great Southern so far this year, which has most notably included the proposed purchase of Ravenhill Dairy in Narrikup.
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