One of Western Australia's most recognised household dairy names — the 130-year-old Brownes Dairy — has been sold to a Chinese firm.

Agreements between the State Government and Chinese-owned Kimberley Agricultural Investment were reached this week, overing 7400ha at Goomig Farmlands, near Kununurra, as part of the Ord Stage 2 project

According to the latest Register of Foreign Ownership of Agricultural Land, Chinese ownership of Australian farmland has increased tenfold in the past year, to 14.4 million hectares.

The deal will also see the company, backed by Canada's Public Sector Pension Investment Board, acquire two certified organic properties owned by Arcadian covering over 30,000 ha.

The New Zealand Superannuation Fund has made its first offshore farm investment, taking a stake in Australian beef stud Palgrove for an undisclosed amount.

Chinese investment in Australian farmland has risen over the past year from about 1.5 million hectares to almost 14.5 million hectares.

The amount of Australian farm land owned by Chinese interests has surged tenfold in the past year, climbing above 14 million hectares or 2.5 per cent of all agricultural land.

TIAA Global Agriculture Properties has acquired 10 of the 17 properties making up the SAF portfolio totaling 16,000 hectares across New South Wales, and Victoria.

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.

The purchase of more Australian farms, agribusinesses and food processing plants is high on the agenda of one of the world’s biggest investment managers, the Chicago-based Nuveen.

Australian beef processor Bindaree Beef announced it has sold a 51 percent controlling stake in the family-owned company to Hong Kong-Australian billionaire, Hui Wing Mau, and Beijing-based equity fund Archstone Investment for approximately $120 million.

Hassad Food – owned by Qatar's sovereign wealth fund the Qatar Investment Authority – is selling another major portion of its Australian farmland portfolio worth about $80 million.

Financial services firms are increasingly directing investor dollars into regenerative agriculture and other systemic food projects in the US, although not without risks

A leading Chinese livestock and meat processing firm wants to tap supply of cattle from south-east Asia, with a cattle quarantine and slaughtering hub planned for the city of Ruili, on the border with Myanmar.

The Beidahuang Group is rumoured to have leased out the majority of its 85,000 ha of WA farmland purchased or leased in a $200 million spending spree five years ago

Even before Lu Xianfeng completed the $280 million purchase of Australia's largest dairy farm in April 2016, the Chinese billionaire was looking to sell. In a messy proposal, Mr Lu planned to offload his holding in the historic VDL to a Chinese listed vehicle he controlled.

Hassad Australia, a $469 million farming company and wholly owned subsidiary of Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund has sold the Clover Downs Station located in Queensland, Australia, to farmer Bill Zell for $27 million.

China has replaced the United States as the second-largest foreign owner of agricultural land in Australia. (The U.K. is No. 1.)

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

Private-equity giant KKR nears $70 million deal for some of the endowment’s farm holdings, including 8,500 acres of dairy farms on the South Island of New Zealand

Legendary waterfront warrior Chris Corrigan could soon have one of the world’s top investors — Canada’s Public Sector Pension Investment Board — as the main shareholder in his Australian listed agricultural company, Webster Limited.

Chinese investors ramped up their investment in Australian agriculture last year, spending $1.2bn on farms and agribusinesses, a new report from KMPG and the University of Sydney has revealed.

As China's government sets up farms in developing countries, the nation's food companies are scouring the world for premium products

One of Canada’s biggest pension funds has teamed up with management of Australia’s largest pecan grower and processor, Stahmann Farms Enterprises.

China’s investment in Australian agribusiness has tripled in just a year as China strives to meet rising demand for high-quality food among its growing middle class. Major agribusiness deals included acquisition of the S Kidman & Co cattle empire and acquisition of Tasmanian dairy giant Van Dieman’s Land.

Canada Pension Plan Investment Board has decided against making further investments in farmland and is open to selling its existing portfolio, a shift in strategy after some local farmers voiced concerns.

The ramifications of the land grab seven years ago, and the role of ANZ in financing the Phnom Penh Sugar (PPS) refinery, are still being felt today. Representative of victims are traveling to Melbourne to lobby ANZ's institutional investors for investigating their complaint against ANZ.

Chinese investment in Australian agriculture is usually a magnet for controversy, but one Chinese company has remained immune from criticism, with plans to invest $1 billion by the end of the decade.

Now and into 2017 agribusiness is being promoted as the next big thing, with increasing market activity, resulting in land and asset values accelerating at a greater rate towards a peak as local and international demand increases.

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