AUSTRALIANS have nothing to worry about from foreign investment in agriculture and there are no plans to tighten rules, according to assistant treasurer Mark Arbib.
Releasing the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics report into foreign investment in agriculture, Mr Arbib said it provided "a clear and factual picture of existing foreign investment" and confirmed foreign investment was good for the nation.
"The Gillard government will make decisions based on clear and factual evidence," Mr Arbib said. "We will not be driven by the nonsense fear campaigns of the Opposition's Barnaby Joyce and Bill Heffernan who use misinformation and hysteria comparing foreign investment in agriculture to an invasion by a foreign army. It's ridiculous."
The report relies on estimates from an Australian Bureau of Statistics report released last September.
The ABS surveyed 11,000, or 15 per cent, of an estimated 165,000 active agricultural enterprises, based on their Australian Business Number and tax office information.
Therefore property acquisitions by mining companies, such as Chinese state-owned Shenhua which has spent $213 million buying 43 farms around Gunnedah, New South Wales, are excluded.
The ABARES report appears to take a partisan approach, strongly advocating the benefits of foreign investment.
"Any measures that put further barriers in the way of foreign investors and reduce the flow of foreign capital into Australian agriculture would adversely affect the performance of the agriculture sector," the report asserts.
"Lower investment would result in lower output, exports and incomes than would otherwise be the case. Opportunities for improved efficiencies could be lost and distortions, such as increased use of foreign credit, would be encouraged."
It says foreign government-owned Australian farmland would account for "no more than a relatively small proportion of the nation's agricultural output" and dismisses outright the idea that foreign countries would buy Australian land to enhance their own food security.
It acknowledges that farmland bought by mining companies "has the potential to reduce agricultural production" but hastens to add that mining brings positives, such as improved roads and employment opportunities.
The ABS report based on its Agricultural and Water Ownership Survey found 99 per cent of agricultural businesses were entirely Australian owned; 1300 of a total of 135,600 had some level of foreign ownership and 732 had unknown ownership status.
Of total agricultural land of 398 million hectares, 89pc or 353mha was entirely Australian owned and 45mha had some level of foreign ownership.
Water entitlements were 91pc Australian-owned.
But NSW has almost half the nation's water entitlements and 10.6pc of NSW water entitlements are wholly or partly foreign owned.
The picture of food production is markedly different with foreign companies dominating red meat, dairy and sugar.
The ABARES report says there are three main categories of foreign investment in land, including agribusiness companies such as Qatar's Hassad Food, investment or pension funds, and miners.
Foreign Investment Review Board data - which ABARES acknowledges has shortcomings because of the $231m threshold - indicates the United States, Malaysia and the United Kingdom are the leading investors.
*Full report in Stock Journal, January 26 issue, 2012.
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