44 | nzdairy DAIRY PEOPLE » NZ Rural Land Management ‘Exhaustive due diligence on the farms’ • from page 43 With operational bases split between Auckland, Waikato and Canterbury, NZL’s current land holdings are in Canterbury, Otago and Southland, collectively encompassing just under 11,000 hectares, in four large clusters. Richard says acquisitions are quite situational where NZL is able to acquire land that works for its thousands of every-day Kiwi investors wanting to select a high quality asset in terms of environmental footprint, its ability to withstand future pressures from environmental regulation and climate change. “The purchase needs to be compelling and so depending on what area we are able to find those properties we will then deal with a locally based experienced tenant. But very often we have sharemilkers wanting to take their next step up in their farming careers. “If we have any area that we like and can find farms we will look collaboratively with a farming partner for something to buy. When the person comes on the land they become the leasee. It might be someone who has been a sharemilker in the past and they would become a tenant, as opposed to splitting the milk cheque with us. “ We’re very selective about the farmers we partner with. They need to meet quite a high threshold in their trading history in terms of people management, animal husbandry, environmental impact and have solid business procedures in place with a robust balance sheet to support the lease in low milk payout years.” If the land was being leased to a dairy farmer it would need existing infrastructure including milking shed as more dairy conversions are very unlikely. “We conduct exhaustive due diligence on the farms we acquire and if there is infrastructure at the end of its lifespan we would allow for this when considering a purchase.” Richard says some larger farming groups who have the existing balance sheet strength take on the lease and are able to place more sharemilkers, contract milkers or equity manager into positions. “It’s a way for them to grow their operational footprint and bring more people up through the industry. With companies like Fortuna Group, one of our recent leasees, the bigger the business the more ability there is for farm assistants to become herd managers, herd managers move up to 2ICs and so on. They can grow faster, train staff better, put more people in business and grow their individual equity.” While NZL believes dairy is the best opportunity for investment at the moment the company is looking at a wide range of options from viticulture, solar and some horticulture. NZL’s current land holdings are in Canterbury, Otago and Southland, collectively encompassing just under 11,000 hectares, in four large clusters. Milking & Water Systems Ltd - 11 Te Tahi Street, Whakatane 07 307 0704 Innes Richardson - 027 312 5082 milkingwatersystems@yahoo.com WE SPECIALISE IN: New Dairy Plant Installation Existing Dairy Plant Maintenance Licensed NZMPTA Milking Machine Testers Dairy Effluent Systems Installation & Maintenance Water & Pumping Systems Installation & Maintenance New Zealand’s Specialist Project Lawyers Proud to support NZ RLM in its exciting plans for the future greenwoodroche.com
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