Australians support further restrictions on foreign ownership of farmland, Vote Compass data shows
Like all real estate, the price of agricultural land has gone through the roof lately and new data shows many Australians would prefer if it were harder for foreigners to buy it.
When the ABC's Vote Compass asked whether the federal government should further restrict foreign ownership of Australian agricultural land, 88 per cent of voters said they "somewhat" or "strongly" agreed that it should.
This compared with just 7 per cent of people taking a neutral view and the remainder either "somewhat" or "strongly" disagreeing, or not knowing.
That sentiment has grown over the past nine years, with 84 per cent of respondents in 2016 wanting tougher restrictions, compared with just half that number — 42 per cent — in 2013.
Independent China researcher Wai Ling Yeung said she wasn't surprised by the data.
"Farmland stirs up patriotic feelings," she said.
Ms Yueng said it was also "quite possible" voters were picturing Chinese ownership when they answered the question.
"Particularly with all the social media hype going on about China's so-called land-grabbing in Australia," she said.
According to the Australian Taxation Office's 2021 data, Chinese nationals held an estimated 2.3 per cent (8.5 million hectares) of Australian freehold and leasehold agricultural land, which was more than people from any other country.
According to the Australian Taxation Office's 2021 data, Chinese nationals held an estimated 2.3 per cent (8.5 million hectares) of Australian freehold and leasehold agricultural land, which was more than people from any other country.
The figures were down slightly from 2020, when Chinese nationals held an estimated 2.4 per cent (9.2 million hectares) of freehold and leasehold agricultural land.
In 2015, there was significant publicity around the federal government's decision to tighten scrutiny of foreign investment in Australian farmland.
Ms Yeung said that could explain why significantly more voters had wanted tighter restrictions on ownership since then.
"I think the current discussions about Australia-China relations is [also] one of the factors," she said.
What do people working in agriculture think?
Jim Engelke manages Kimberley Agricultural Investment, a Chinese-owned company that's developed 6,700 hectares of farmland in the Ord Valley, in Western Australia's far north.
KAI both owns and leases land and grows chickpeas, sorghum, millet, maize and cotton.
Mr Engelke said the company was yet to turn a profit but had contributed to the Australian economy.
"KAI's contribution has really been around land development," he said.
"The cost of development hasn't yet been recovered, so there are no profits going back to China.
"We buy all of our inputs [in Australia], we cooperate with the grain pool here and the [Ord River District] Cooperative.
"We market our grain in the same way all the other farmers do.
"There's no difference between how we operate as a farm and how, dare I say, an Australian-owned farm operates."
Mr Engelke also said KAI employed about 45 people and if it were not for the region's crippling skills shortage, he would employ more.
Emma Germano, a vegetable grower and president of the Victorian Farmers Federation, said Australia needed to take a balanced approach to foreign ownership.
"In some cases, yes, foreign ownership is something that's a threat to Australia," she said.
"But in many cases, we actually have to be considering foreign investment as a means to grow the agriculture industry, and it has indeed done that for us over the last decade and more."
With the median price of Australian farmland reaching a record $7,060 per hectare in 2021, Ms Germano said she could understand why aspiring farmers could find foreign ownership hard to accept.
"We should be incentivising young Australians, trans-generational farmers, even our Australian superannuation funds and investment firms [to buy farmland]," she said.
"Because I think everybody would agree that where an Australian, either company or person, can afford to purchase that land and be the recipient and beneficiary of that land, we would all agree that that's a positive thing.
"We just can't put a policy position in like, 'ban all foreign ownership', that would be detrimental to the Australian agriculture industry, that would be detrimental to the Australian economy."
