The theme of the conference was Entering Tomorrow’s World.
During the panel discussion ASB Agri Capital head Kevin Cooney said food production and food security were attracting global investment and the convergence of technology and international food trade would see the creation soon of mega-farms in New Zealand.
“In the next five to 10 years there will emerge, we believe, a handful of globally relevant businesses in this country where between $1 billion and $2b will be invested,” Cooney said.
Bank borrowing will be limited in such farms so they would rely on corporate and foreign investment.
“It leads us to a series of questions about our future such as the governance of such businesses and how do we motivate a new generation to become world-class farmers when owning their own farm may no longer be the goal?”
But it was important there still be pathways for people into farm ownership.
“We may have to borrow structures from other industries to make this happen.”
Fellow panellist, Landcorp people general manager Anna Cassels-Brown said as farmland values continued to rise, pressure was on farming families to sell up.
“As volatility in the payout continues and farmers struggle to make yearly profits, the pressure to realise the capital potential of the farm will increase,” she said.
About 350 people attended the two-day conference opened by lawyer Mai Chen of Chen Palmer Public and Employment Law Specialists and closed by former prime minister Dame Jenny Shipley. Managing director of Fonterra Global Brands and Nutrition Jacqueline Chow was the other keynote speaker.
The conference included a tour of a nearby dairy farm with a wintering barn and fodder beet crops. Next year’s conference will be in Wellington.
