The Overseas Investment Office website to see decisions on foreign investments can be found here

The repeated themes in the decisions over the last quarter are:

1. Blanket forestry purchases
2. Standing consents to buy more for ten more years
3. Sheep & beef farms being converted to pines (though some existing forests going into foreign hands) &
4. Most importantly, almost all forestry purchases falling under “Special Forestry test” – the test where no economic benefit to NZ has to be proven

And all helped along by our government bringing in the special forestry test: https://www.russellmcveagh.com/insights/september-2018/making-the-consent-process-easier-for-forestry

In three years, we’ve gotten rid of 700,000 stock units: https://farmersweekly.co.nz/section/forestry/view/report-highlights-carbon-conversions

Column Author: Jaspreet Boporai. a 42 year old wife, mum of two kids (6, 4) and a dairy farmer. She and her husband manage 1500 cows over two farms in Western Southland for a large equity partnership.

Jaspreet got her degree in accounting from Massey and has also been bookkeeping for the last decade.

She and her husband moved to NZ in 2009, swapping 80 hour weeks in corporate banking for prob longer weeks in farming! (her husband has done his MBA and Jaspreet was a mortgage underwriter in India).

Hailing from Punjab (the epicentre of Indian farmer protests), India’s wheat basket, the love of land runs strong in the couple and wanting to go large scale farming got them to New Zealand.

Jaspreet’s family has been serving in the Indian army for many generations and nearly 30 years ago, her dad served in the Indian army contingent under the aegis of the United Nations in Africa. Thus, began her interest in all things UN related!