A Maori trust, with financial backing believed to come from Dubai, has contracted to buy 28 farms in Southland, with plans to buy others throughout the country.
The cost of the farm purchases so far is estimated at more than $150 million.
Inquiries by the Otago Daily Times have revealed concerns in the rural industry about the group's actions, from delays confirming the sales contracts to deposits not being paid as expected.
Two of Southland's largest rural real estate companies, PGG Wrightson and Southern Wide, declined to deal with the trust, but the farms have been bought through other real estate agents.
Group spokesman Wynn Murray said the trust was a serious buyer.
It had financial backing, including from overseas, and sales contracts would be made final in late February or early March.
The delay was because of dairy farmers wanting to see out the milking season and deposits would be paid when contracts were finalised, he said.
Mr Murray, from Invercargill, declined to name the trust he represented or confirm rumours its funding came from Dubai.
He did confirm that an option was for milk from the trust's farms to be processed specifically for Dubai markets.
Mr Murray said the trust he represented was not aligned to a tribe, but made up of a group of individual Maori people from throughout New Zealand who had pooled their resources.
"We're just Maori people who have got together and decided, `Let's do this'."
There was no Treaty of Waitangi settlement money involved.
"My tribe [Te Rarawa] hasn't even settled," Mr Murray said.
He has been buying farms for the past three or four months and, while he had been told to stop, expected to resume again in the new year.
The trust has bought nearly 30,000ha of dairy, sheep, beef and deer farms throughout Southland.
Mr Murray said farm managers and staff would keep their jobs under the new ownership, and product would be supplied to existing processors.
He said he was raised on a farm and the decision on which to buy rested with him.
He did not seek input from consultants or other professionals.
The trust's activities have fed a rumour mill in the South, with speculation Dubai leaders were privately funding the trust to secure future food supplies.
The United Nations estimated world food production needed to double between now and 2050 to feed a population of about 9.5 billion.
Last month, state-run Dubai World, the emirate's flagship investment arm, announced it could not repay on time some of its $NZ83.5 billion debt, a hangover of the property boom which was driven by Dubai World.
Farming newspaper Rural News has reported on its website that "a hapu trust" was negotiating a 99-year treaty with a Dubai World subsidiary.
It would bankroll the buying of the farms, as well as processing plants, in return for a guaranteed 99-year food supply.
Mr Murray is described as fronting the trust, and Rural News quotes him as saying: "All I know is that it asked me to buy farms and that the Arabs approached us because they wanted to deal with an indigenous country."
Rural News also says deposits have not been received by Southland vendors, adding due diligence was to have been completed by November 20, but Dubai World requested a time extension for financial reasons.
John Wright, of L. J. Hooker Invercargill, is reported as saying he does not expect sales to go unconditional until March.
Sources say an average 200ha Southland sheep, beef or deer farm would cost about $3.5 million to buy, with a dairy farm of a similar size double that cost.
Stock and shares in processing companies could add another $1 million, in the case of a dairy farm, to the purchase price.
Mr Murray could not break down the numbers of dairy, sheep, beef, or deer farms his trust had contracted to buy, but the total cost could easily have already surpassed $150 million.
Affiliated to the Te Rarawa tribe from Kaitaia, Mr Murray has lived in Southland since 1960 and lists among his jobs an electricity transmission line overseer, publican at the Mossburn Hotel and volunteer at Invercargill Prison.
Southland Federated Farmer leaders had heard rumours about the trust's activities but had not had complaints from members.
The meat and fibre chairman Martin Hall said these were commercial transactions and farmers thinking of selling should seek advice from lawyers and accountants.
