Thursday, 26 March 2020 15:23

Bonkers!

Written by  The Hound

The Hound reckons news that an Austrian billionaire has been granted consent to purchase an $8m Hill Country farm, is living proof that the NZ First’s billion tree policy is a disaster for farming in this country.

The Overseas Investment Office (OIO) has granted Wolfgang Leitner consent to buy the 800ha property located in Kotemaori, Wairoa and convert it to forestry.

The property known as Ponui Station currently has 714ha being grazed by sheep and beef stock. Leitner plans to plant a further 640ha of commercial forest, it currently has just 14ha of existing commercial forestry.

According to the real estate listing the farm is described as “clean, healthy country, sought after scale, and opportunity to extend farm capability.”

Meanwhile, this isn’t Leitner’s first farm purchase in NZ, having been granted consent to buy the $4.5m, 489ha Ngapuke Station in Gisborne last September. 

More like this

No to pines

OPINION: Forests planted for carbon credits are permanently locking up NZ’s landscapes, and could land us with more carbon costs, says the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment (PCE).

No more pines!

Forests planted for carbon credits are permanently locking up NZ’s landscapes, and could land us with more carbon costs, says the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment (PCE).

Featured

Big return on a small investment

Managing director of Woolover Ltd, David Brown, has put a lot of effort into verifying what seems intuitive, that keeping newborn stock's core temperature stable pays dividends by helping them realise their full genetic potential.

Editorial: Sensible move

OPINION: The Government's decision to rule out changes to Fringe Benefit Tax (FBT) that would cost every farmer thousands of dollars annually, is sensible.

National

Machinery & Products

» Latest Print Issues Online

The Hound

Overbearing?

OPINION: Dust ups between rural media and PR types aren't unheard of but also aren't common, given part of the…

Foot-in-mouth

OPINION: The Hound hears from his canine pals in Southland that an individual's derogatory remarks on social media have left…

» Connect with Rural News

» eNewsletter

Subscribe to our weekly newsletter