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Hops growing at Motueka .SUPPLIED/The New Zealand Institute for Plant & Food Research Limited.
Low interest rates are driving record enquiries for cash yielding real assets, says the rural syndicate property investor MyFarm Investments.
Within three days of the Reserve Bank of NZ cutting the OCR by 0.5% to a record 1%, the company had 60 investors take up its offering of two SunGold kiwifruit orchards ($8.2 million), it says.
MyFarm chief executive Andrew Watters says in contrast to many other cash yielding investments, the Bay of Plenty kiwifruit offer was expected to generate average returns of 9% over the next five years.
“Investors are seeking cash yield, they are seeking investment diversity to spread risk and they like the market-led focus of Zespri and the sector’s record of innovation.”
The company recently withdrew a diversified horticultural offer, Kakariki Fund Ltd, from the market. It was seeking $40m but raised only $30m.
Watters says despite its disappointment, the company sees a clear mandate to offer investors direct investments in single real assets.
“It seems investors love the touch and feel of a specific investment, be that a kiwifruit orchard, cherry orchard or hop garden.”
MyFarm is now seeking to raise $22.5m for its second large scale hop garden development in Nelson. Wairua Hop Garden Ltd partnership is a 175ha dairy farm on the Motueka River due for conversion in the next two years.
The company expects to distribute cash after 2.5 years, building to 14% p.a. It also expects tax benefits.
Its management partner Hop Revolution is targeting global craft brewers wanting the tastes and aromas of NZ bred hops. Other institutional investors, including NZ Super, are also investing in Nelson hop gardens, Watters says.
“They’re eager to gain exposure to NZ hops and the premiums the US craft brewers will pay for them,” he said.
As we move into the late-summer and autumn period, much of the country’s fruit growing regions are entering operationally critical windows of the horticultural calendar. The question on grower’s minds is ‘what is the outlook for the March-April harvest?’
Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) Director General Ray Smith is giving a big shout-out to the horticulture sector, especially kiwifruit.
Zespri says global sales for the 2024-25 season topped $5 billion on the back of strong demand and market returns.
The head of the New Zealand Kiwifruit Growers organisation NZKGI says the points raised in a report about the sector by Waikato University professor Frank Scrimgeour were not a surprise.
The closure of the McCain processing plant and the recent announcement of 300 job losses at Wattie’s underscore the mounting pressure facing New Zealand’s manufacturing sector, Buy NZ Made says.
Specialist agriculture lender Oxbury has entered the New Zealand market, offering livestock finance to farmers.
New research suggests Aotearoa New Zealand farmers are broadly matching phosphorus fertiliser use to the needs of their soils, helping maintain relatively stable nutrient levels across the country’s agricultural land.
Helensville farmers, Donald and Kirsten Watson of Moreland Pastoral, have been named the Auckland Regional Supreme Winners at the Ballance Farm Environment Awards.
Marc and Megan Lalich were named 2026 Share Farmers of the Year at last night's Canterbury/North Otago Dairy Industry Awards.
William John Poole, a third year Agribusiness student at Massey University, has been awarded the Dr Warren Parker and Pāmu Scholarship.
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