Leaky waka
OPINION: Was the ASB Economic Weekly throwing shade on Reserve Bank governor Adrian Orr when reporting on his speech in Washington recently?
The Reserve Bank of New Zealand's (RBNZ) controversial involvement in the new owners of the Van Leeuwen Group dairy farms has been defended.
The Companies Office shows that NZ Central Securities Depository holds 45.41% of the New Zealand Rural Land Company (NZL) shares. Its sole director is RBNZ senior executive Stephen Gordon.
NZL Director Christopher Swasbrook says there is absolutely nothing sinister about NZ Central Securities Depository holding the shares in NZL.
“It’s simply a custodian of other people’s shares,” he told Rural News.
NZL recently announced the purchase of 14 dairy farms, owned by the Van Leeuwen Group, which went into receivership last month. Shareholders are set to vote next week (May 24th) on the deal.
The company purchased its first farm in March this year; a 456ha dairy property for $10.3 million. The farm has been leased to Fortuna Group with an annual rental of $515,000.
Swasbrook says NZL provides an opportunity for local and overseas investors to acquire an interest in high quality New Zealand rural land.
“We have seen how hard it is for locals to come up with the now sizeable amounts of capital and lay their hands on productive rural land,” he says.
“We provide all investors, irrespective of size, an opportunity to do that.”
He says NZL will always be majority New Zealand-owned as foreign investors are restricted to only holding 49.9% of the company.
The NZL board is chaired by Rob Campbell and includes former Fonterra executive Sarah Kennedy and Swasbrook, one of the founders of NZL.
NZ Rural Land Management, the external manager of NZL, has a board comprising Richard Milsom (also one of the co-founders of NZL), Fonterra’s first woman board member Marise James and independent chair Shelley Ruha. NZ Rural Land Management is 50% owned by Allied Farmers.
Farmer-owned co-operative Ravensdown is winding down the operations of its agritech subsidiary C-Dax following a long decline in sales.
The recent East Coast Farming Expo, held over two days at Wairoa, offered an insight into the current state of agriculture on the east of the North Island, at a time when the locals are remembering the second anniversary of Cyclone Gabrielle.
A Research programme supported by Beef+Lamb NZ is investigating the potential of ‘accelerometer’ sensors for early detection of conditions such as facial eczema (FE) in sheep.
In the past year, the Farmer Time for Schools programme which seeks to connect New Zealand school students with farmers, has experienced further growth.
Fresh Carriers Co. Ltd (FCC) and Zespri have completed the first ever kiwifruit charter powered by a low-emissions fuel.
New Zealand lingerie brand Rose & Thorne is expanding its virtual bra fitting service in an effort to provide rural women in with better access to specialised advice.
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