The Overseas Investment Office has granted consent, under the special forestry (one-off purchase) test to acquire a freehold interest of 597ha of land, farmed as a sheep, beef and deer operation, on 40 Whyte Rd, Happy Valley, Southland.
Three separate applications were made under the special forestry category from Dutch-owned Ingka Investments Forest Assets NZ and Ingka Investments Management NZ.
The two businesses are owned by Ingka Investments BV, the investment arm of Ingka Group, the largest franchisee of Ikea stores internationally, the office noted.
The farm near Tuatapere was bought for $9.3 million, the document stated.
It is also buying a 606ha property in Hawke’s Bay for $9.9 million and a 397ha forestry land in Wairarapa for $3.9 million.
"The applicants plan to establish and maintain a total of approximately 535.2ha of rotation forest over the 2024-25 planting seasons.
"The trees will be harvested after approximately 27-30 years, and replanting will occur following harvest," the consent said.
It also said the company intended to subdivide and sell 3ha of land containing two residential dwellings.
The remainder of the land would be unplanted, including native bush (29.5ha), buffer land, setbacks, riparian areas, roads and tracks.
Speaking to the Otago Daily Times yesterday, Federated Farmers Southland vice-president Bernadette Hunt said she was aware the group had bought quite a number of farms in the country with the intention to transform them into forestry.
The organisation was not against forestry or landowners selling their properties for whoever offer the highest bid, however it was undeniable that unchecked conversion from productive farmland for other purposes would have ramifications for the farming industry.
"The loss of productive farmland for forestry, in the way that is happening at the moment, is absolutely a concern for a whole number of reasons.
"One is the community ramifications but also about the [potential of the] meat producing sector [shrinking] and then our market position in the global economy is threatened as well."
She understood the Ikea company had said it would invest in farms to transform into active forestry instead of carbon-free forestry — which was at least much more beneficial.
The wood would be used to make Ikea products.
"Actual forestry wood production is a productive sector and employs people so it doesn’t have the same negative consequences of carbon forestry.
"Nevertheless, it is concerning to lose productive farmland to forestry and it is happening in a very quick weight and scale."
Ms Hunt said New Zealand’s agriculture sector was all intertwined.
Dairy farms, for example, had the practice to use bulls from their farms to get their cows in calf.
A lot of hill country farms were being converted to forestry.
That was where the progeny of New Zealand farming was produced and a lot of it gets fashioned down on flattened, more productive, soils.
"If you take one part of equation out of the mix, there is a ripple effect [not only] for the community around the farm but also for the industry and also to our global market."
Swedish connection
Ingka Group ownership in the South
- 597ha sheep, beef and dear farm, Whyte Rd, near Tuatapere.
- 407ha sheep, beef and deer operation, Lillburn-Monowai Rd, Tuatapere.
- 259.25ha forestry land, Cook Forest, Beaumont.
- 1118ha of land, Waimumu.
- A 5500ha sheep and beef station, Wisp Hill, Owaka Valley.
