12 April 2006

Farmers Flock To Greener Pastures

New Zealand First is concerned at reports that increasing numbers of farmers are selling up to buy cheaper farms in Australia.

“The drift westwards has always been a problem, but substantially cheaper land prices in Australia, coupled with cheaper co-operative prices and abundant grain for feed, have been luring more and more dairy farmers to make the move,” said Primary Production spokesperson Doug Woolerton.

“Young farmers need not be mathematicians to figure out where they will be better off, which will leave older landowners and corporate owners to provide the backbone of our export economy.

‘This is yet another example of the unintended consequences that result from poor policymaking. Easy purchasing of our land by foreign investors has pushed prices up to the point where farm prices here are more than double the price of an equivalent farm in some parts of Australia.

“New Zealand First has the solution to this problem, and that is to take overseas bidders out of our market. However, I fear that on this issue the horse has already bolted,’ said Mr Woolerton.

ENDS

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