foreign farm ownership

only .1% foreign owned ??? not including mining.

Australia Studies Foreign Farm Ownership Amid Community Concern About Food
By Gemma Daley - Nov 23, 2010 1:45 PM ET



Australia, the world?s biggest wool shipper and second-largest dairy and beef exporter, will study the level of overseas investment in its farms amid concern over foreign ownership and food security.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics will survey 171,000 agricultural businesses next year, Assistant Treasurer Bill Shorten said last night. The Rural Industries Research and Development Corp. will carry out a separate study on the history of foreign investment in the sector and the reasons behind it.

?This process will address some community concerns,? Shorten said in an e-mailed statement. ?Whether there really are foreign ownership issues to be concerned by here or whether there is actually a gap developing between anxiety and reality is the key question.?

Nations are seeking extra farmland to meet a forecast 70 percent increase in food production expected in the next four decades. New Zealand in September tightened rules for major international purchases of farmland, requiring buyers to show how it would benefit the economy, amid a community backlash.

Australia?s Foreign Investment Review Board this month approved Singapore-based Wilmar International Ltd.?s A$1.75 billion ($1.73 billion) purchase of CSR Ltd.?s sugar business, the nation?s largest producer of the sweetener.

The board last month cleared the A$1.2 billion takeover of AWB Ltd., the nation?s largest wheat exporter, by Calgary-based Agrium Inc.

ABB, Viterra

This year?s takeovers followed the A$1.6 billion purchase in 2009 of ABB Grain Ltd., the country?s largest barley exporter, by Viterra Inc. based in Regina, Saskatchewan.

Real estate agents in April said Chinese investment in the nation?s farms increased 10-fold in the previous six months. Geoff Hickson, real estate manager at Landmark Operations Ltd., also said at the time his company had started to use Mandarin translators.

Australia?s agriculture industry represents about 12 percent of the A$1.2 trillion economy and the country has some of the largest farms in the world. Anna Creek, a South Australia state cattle ranch measuring 23,677 square kilometers (9,142 square miles), or almost the size of Belgium, is the country?s biggest.

Existing government data shows 99 percent of crop and dairy farms are family operated. Of the remaining 1 percent, around 0.1 percent are foreign owned.

Miners in Australia, also the biggest coal and iron ore shipper, are also being targeted. Foreign acquisitions of Australian mining companies this year to date is at $15.34 billion, compared with $16.8 billion in 2009, according to Bloomberg data. Canada?s Goldcorp Inc.?s C$3.6 billion bid for Andean Resources Ltd. is the biggest deal so far this year.

To contact the reporter on this story: Gemma Daley in Canberra at [email protected]

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Bill Austin at [email protected]

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-11-23/australia-studies-foreign-farm-ownership-amid-community-concern-about-food.html