china to buy more

[hedgehog]

biggest australian grain grower,john nicoletti is selling 200,000 acres to the chinese.

[RD414]

Funny how things go, 150 years ago Europeans came to America and traded cheap shit and trinkets for the land.Now Chinese are showing up with money from cheap shit and trinkets and trading for the land. First guys at least got a treaty.

[SASKFARMER3]

Good point! We're going to get screwed good.

[malleefarmer]

Possibly he will contract farms it for them, and
uses hs company to export the grain he's got a
export permit in his own right!
Wi see what I can find out

[malleefarmer]

http://www.farmweekly.com.au/news/state/croppin
g/general-news/nicoletti-looks-to-offload-
farmland/2640688.aspx?storypage=2

[farmaholic]

RD414: LOL Well put. Too bad this
industry lost too many potential farmers
to two decades of hard times and
negativity. When I look around me and
see how many farms never got taken over
by the "next generation" it isn't any
wonder there is room for LARGE corporate
entities and foreign investment. These
are interesting times and will be worth
watching unfold. Are we in an
irreversible trend? Stay tuned.

[hedgehog]

the aussie govt should buy it all back, and let the farms to young farmers, if it wants to have a future.

[bucket]

Governments don't think that way. No vision.

The people in government now are made to make sound bites, and make sure they get 8 years in or more for a gold pension.

They really do no good and have lost their purpose.

To let agricultural land become part of another country's protfolio is insane at best. And to let a generation of farmers blend into 9 to 5 workers is equally as absurd.

Although some of it comes from the generation that won't let the farm go into the next generation at the right time.

[Hopperbin]

Does this guy not have kids? Pretty sure his farm was not built up overnight. Is there any prices advertised for this high risk farmland?
Sounds like he is tired of the past droughts.

[Hopperbin]

I see he has 3 children. A total of 450,000 acres spread over 700 miles. Also owns 5 JD dealerships. I suppose this is his sales pitch to the Chinese. Now if one can average 55 bushels to the acre would that land not be worth 1500 per acre with such low inputs? In his words.

"It's this marginal country, that's where the money is to be made, because your return is better than anywhere else," he says. "On this red soil out here, we can buy the land for, say, $300 an acre, we can put a crop in with 30 kilograms of DAP (diammonium phosphate fertilizer), 40kg of wheat and $30 of other inputs such as [pest] sprays and get a 1.5-ton average yield. You look at the return on investment and the best place to be is out here."

http://www.forbes.com/global/2011/0718/companies-john-nicoletti-grain-farming-bold-bet-on-wheat.html

I think the guy will only sell to chinese investors only to hose them. And like Sask3 may get it back later as he has the money. If not he may make better use of the money he has got. As far as the 46 full time employees they should still have their jobs. This is agriculture on a different scale than we in Western Canada are used to. If farms are half million acres in size then everyone becomes only workers anyways, with only a small percentage of owners. This guys land is so marginal dependent on rain that he would actually cut wheat plantings by 50 percent on account of price, etc, with no switch to another crop. Mallee what do these farmers do? Do they let a few weeds grow and graze sheep when they decide not to plant???? Not much shortage of info on this farm.

http://www.meattradenewsdaily.co.uk/news/091111/australia___wheat_and_its_long_term_prospects.aspx

[Hopperbin]

Can anyone immagine a forienge company coming into such an area as this to farm where farmers need to be responsive to moisture and price. I have worked on a farm in NSW where they actually do not plant a crop or they plant much less of a crop depending on moisture. As far as I know the crop insurance is not lucrative at all. The ownership needs to be there and working on such a farm, its wild country. What if the 46 employees refuse to work without a raise? what if they refuse to move off the property?
They are shacked up on the property correct Mallee? We have no idea.

[malleefarmer]

http://www.thecombineforum.com/forums/27-
general-farming-board/41329-what-do-you-
wa-guy-know-think.html

there are some comments from wa farmers
about this very topic on combine forum

[bluefargo]

Mallee

I read articles like this with increasing concern. I cannot imagine why any country would allow a sale like this. China is a communist country with a very poor record of human rights. China supports horrible dictatorships like North Korea. They seem not to respect negotiated contracts when it suits them. And even if they were a 'nice' country why would any country allow the ownership of thier land and resources pass to foreign ownership of any kind.
Here in Canada we have just allowed one of our bigger oil producing companies to be sold to a state owned Chinese company. I am baffled why our so called conservative government would allow anything in Canada to be sold to a communist state owned company.

[ajl]

The day is coming when OZ will regret
this. Need the Chinese to come to pay
3x what locals will. The reason the
CNOOC deal went ahead in Canada was we
had to. The only thing happening in
Canada is oil sands investment. Anyone
who can operate a calculator can figure
that oil sand projects loose a lot of
money at 65 dollar oil. (Check the
Edmonton par price) So only the Chinese
who are pros at building the bridge to
nowhere can make it fly. The Chinese
figure that they can control enough
variables like the price of oil in
various markets so they can make
anything fly. Without foolish
investment in the oil sands in Canada
our economy would be in a big recession.
Without the Progress deal the employee
of progress would be on EI right now so
that deal had to get done as well.

[Hopperbin]

not sure if thispurchase is china state or china
private, but in all fainess any offshore
investmemt must follow our rules and we can
make new ones any time we want, for the best
interest of our country,at least with ag land we
are not giving away any company secrets