Farmers welcome Landcorp ballot plan
National will direct Landcorp to offer farms to young farmers because ‘‘there is no clear public good coming from Crown ownership and little financial return to taxpayers’’.
Primary Industries Minister Nathan Guy said the farmers would have to ‘‘work the land’’ for five to 10 years, after which they could lease the farms before buying them ‘‘at market rates’’.
It was envisaged about 100 young farming families would benefit from the programme.
‘‘Not all of Landcorp’s around 140 farms will be sold,’’ Guy said.
‘‘Many are subject to Treaty [of Waitangi] claims and others have a right of first refusal for iwi – and these rights will of course be respected. Some of Landcorp’s larger farms will be divided into smaller units more appropriate for first-time owners.’’
Federated Farmers president Katie Milne said it was an ‘‘exciting prospect’’ for young farmers.
It was a slightly ‘‘back to the future’’ policy because in the days of the Department of Lands and Survey farmers went into a ballot each year for farms.
Milne would not comment on Guy’s view about the financial performance of the state-owned corporation, except to say it was exposed to the vagaries of the market like all farmers.
Labour’s primary industries spokesman, Damien O’Connor, said it was not his party’s policy.
‘‘We expect caveats on the sales so that farms can’t be on-sold to foreign buyers. Labour believes Landcorp has the size and expertise to lead innovation across the agri-business sector and we don’t want to undermine that.’’
Guy said there would be no time limits on when the farms could be sold by the new owners.
Landcorp is New Zealand’s largest farmer, running about 140 farms the length and breadth of the country. It has 700 staff, with an average of six per farm.
Last week it announced an after-tax profit of $51.9 million compared with the year before of $11.5m, but did not offer a dividend to the Government.
The farms would be awarded on a lease-to-buy arrangement, with leases awarded by a panel and ballot, and prioritised towards young farmers who had experience of running a farming operation, and had not already had sole ownership of one before.
New Zealand Young Farmers chief executive Terry Copeland said the announcement was great news. ‘‘The mechanism to lease first and build up some expertise and some profile before buying in is a very smart move.’’