Overseas investment decision for case 202600299 - Farmland Reserve NZ, Inc.

The Applicant is a corporation established in the United States of America and owned by Farmland Reserve, Inc., which is an integrated investment auxiliary of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

The Applicant is acquiring 358 hectares of farm land in the Bay of Plenty currently used for a mixture of dairy farming (213 hectares), dry stock grazing (60 hectares), with a small area used for kiwifruit production (20.1 hectare) and a small poultry operation (3 hectares).

The Applicant intends to plant an additional 100 canopy hectares of the land in kiwifruit and operate the land as a kiwifruit orchard. Other agricultural activities on the Land will cease.

The main benefits to New Zealand are likely to include:

• capital investment of $32 million in relation to planting the additional canopy hectares in kiwifruit;
• increased permanent jobs by approximately 5 roles and seasonal jobs by approximately 70 roles by the 2036 financial year;
• and from the 2036 financial year on -
• production and export of an additional 1,221,000 trays of kiwifruit per year; and
• increased exports of $23.3 million per year.

Consent was granted as the Applicant has met the investor test criterion and the investment is likely to benefit New Zealand.