Selling us out

“We want to buy your farms and mines.” Chinese interests are buying up farms and mining interests in northern NSW.

Related links

• Chinese make offer for sugar mills
• China's bid for sugar mills

LARGE-SCALE purchases of farmland by foreign interests, including state-owned Chinese companies, are raising concerns that Australia’s food security is at risk.

The NSW Farmers Association has called on the Federal Government to track all foreign purchases of farmland and water rights.

“Last year we heard reports that $9 billion worth of agricultural land had been acquired by foreign investors within just two years – but eight months on, nothing has been done to address the issue,” NSW Farmers president Charles Armstrong said.

“While we don’t oppose foreign investment we are opposed to foreign ownership.”

He noted the reports this week that the Chinese government-owned Shenhua Coal bought 43 farms over the last two years, spending more than $200 million, as part of its plans for a coalmine in the Liverpool Plains, near Gunnedah.

Foreign companies have also been busy buying farmland and sugar mills in Queensland according to Vince Castle, president of Clarence Cane Growers.

Last year CSR sold seven mills and thousands of hectares to Wilmar, one of Asia’s leading agribusiness groups, while the Chinese-government owned COFCO is also firming as a buyer of Queensland’s Tully Sugar. The company produces more than two million tonnes of cane per year.

Clarence cane growers haven’t been approached yet, but Mr Castle wouldn’t be surprise if local growers “get some attention”.

Foreign companies were paying very good prices, sometimes well over the value of the underlying assets he said.

They are also a reality of today’s business environment.

“We would have to consider any offer on its merits, but we would be more reluctant to sell than our Queensland counterparts,” he said.

The issue has attracted plenty of political attention with the Greens and the Coalition making announcements this week.

The Greens renewed their call for a new law on foreign acquisitions that includes a national interest test, plus online publication of buying interests in agricultural land.

The Coalition said it would establish a working group to investigate options to strengthen the rules governing the sale of agricultural land.

Meanwhile, the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry is developing a National Food Plan that will include issues of food security, productivity and efficiency relating to the food sector.