Foreign Ownership of New Zealand farm land is an ever evolving topic that is of interest to a large number of us and a discussion that many people are uneasy to have or have a strong feeling either way.
People fear for loss of ownership of our great land and consider the implications it will have on future generations.
Before land can be sold to foreign investors it has to go through the Overseas Investment Office (OIO) which assesses applications from overseas investors seeking to invest in sensitive New Zealand farm land. Farm land that exceeds 5 hectares is deemed to be sensitive.
It also is required to get Ministerial approval if granted approval from the OIO. New Zealand has a robust OIO process and we should not fear that it will let us down, but look for greater opportunity when foreign interest is expressed in our land.
Before reading into this report consider this – If you were a land owner looking at selling your farm land that you have firstly worked hard to get and secondly to keep and run as a viable operation, should you be deprived of t he opportunity of obtaining maximum value from your asset?
I hope this report will stimulate further discussion and debate on Foreign Ownership of our New Zealand farmland.
Jamie Cunninghame
