Minister of Agriculture says Chinese government controlled company's acquisition of some of the Australia's richest food growing areas is too great a risk for the nation.

A consortium hoping to buy dozens of south-west dairy farms aims to operate “on a scale not considered in Australia before,” a spokesman for the consortium says.

Foreign companies are covertly buying up adjacent farms in Australia to use as a "salad bowl" in the case of global food shortages.

If former Australian Prime Minister Bob Hawke has his way, Saudi Arabia will produce its food in Australia.

As the world's available farming land shrinks in the face of population growth, climate change and soil degradation, Australia's vast tracts of land are going to be increasingly important for global food security. Is the sell-off in Australia's long term interests?

When the ABC's Vote Compass asked whether the federal government should further restrict foreign ownership of Australian agricultural land, 88 per cent of voters said they "somewhat" or "strongly" agreed that it should.

"If Korea wants to invest in agriculture, Australia is open for business," Australian Ambassador to Seoul Peter Rowe said in a recent interview with The Korea Times.

One of the people most active in driving Chinese investment in Australian farmland, David Goodfellow, is switching camps to help build a $1 billion Canadian investment portfolio.

Australia has granted a three-year extension for a Chinese company to reduce its 80 percent stake in Australian cotton farm Cubbie Station after it indicated it could not meet the October 2015 deadline.

Australians will get a chance to own a 20 per cent stake in the country's largest landholder, S. Kidman & Co, alongside large Chinese investors, after a deal was struck this week to buy the iconic cattle business for more than $370 million.

The four farms in the ‘macadamia capital of Australia’ cover 545 ha across four adjoining farms with 109,000 mature trees and were put up for sale in 2013 by one of the largest institutional managers of agricultural real estate in the US, Hancock Farm Company.

Australia's agriculture minister, Barnaby Joyce, has defended the government’s newly tightened foreign investment regime before key agricultural industry stakeholders.

Former Prime Minister, Bob Hawke, is leading a push to get Arabs to invest in Australian farmland as part of a long term food security strategy for oil-rich Gulf States

New Zealand's Green Party has drafted a bill seeking to stop overseas buyers snapping up large tracts of NZ land. Australian farmers also fear they may have trouble coping with future food and water demands if foreign interests snap up too many of the nation's agricultural resources.

Canadian investors - particularly pension funds - have led the way in changing Australian city money attitudes to agriculture.

An ABC Rural investigation reveals the extent of the creep of foreign ownership in the Top End, particularly over the past three years.

Liberal MP backs calls from farming groups nationwide to tighten government regulations that scrutinise potential sales of Australian farmland and water assets to foreign investors and increase transparency.

Government has taken action to resolve lingering speculation and strengthen transparency surrounding the degree of foreign ownership in Australian agriculture.

A venture backed by Canada’s PSP Investments has bought out its co-investors in the Kooba aggregation in New South Wales, which has 30,000 hectares of cotton, crops and livestock and 1,400 hectares of almond orchards.

Industry Super Australia claims foreign investors are cherry-picking the best Australian farming investments.

China's appetite for Australian farmland showing no signs of being sated. Foreign Investment Review Board (FIRB) annual report confirmed China has become Australia's biggest source of approved foreign investment after a $12.4 billion splurge.

Chinese company presidents met with Australian officials and company reps in Sydney to discuss ag investments, ranging from a $25 million, 20,000 ha cotton farm to a $350 million farmland purchase in ­Western ­Australia and Queensland.

Overseas buyers may boost investment in agriculture assets in Australia, the fourth-biggest shipper of wheat, as they seek to secure supply to meet surging food demand, said Queensland Sugar Ltd. Chairman Alan Winney.

The anxiety expressed in some farming quarters and the daily media about Australian farms becoming dominated by foreign corporations and governments fails to recognise that the coming and going of overseas investors has always been part of rural property transactions.

Australia’s richest person believes foreign ownership of Australian farmland should be capped at a maximum of 49 per cent to protect against breakdowns in international relations.

Hong Kong based investors who recently took a 51 percent stake in northern NSW export beef processor, Bindaree Beef have plans to further develop their Western Australian grazing property investments, purchased in April last year.

An agricultural investment advisor predicts international companies wanting to buy Australian farmland could be scared off by changes to the threshold for scrutiny by the Foreign Investment Review Board.

Agribusiness executive David Goodfellow is heading up a project for Zhejiang RIFA Holding Group to build an Australian livestock property portfolio of similar scale to Macquarie Bank's big Paraway Pastoral business.

China's biggest state-owned agricultural conglomerate has bought farmland and port facilities in Western Australia and the move has sharply divided responses.

FORMER Macarthur Coal chairman Keith De Lacy is backing the potential $100 million float of a beef cattle company, with expectations that offshore investors will support the company's initial public offer.