WAFarmers was particularly vocal, calling for a reduction in the threshold where Foreign Investment Review Board (FIRB) approval was required.

The current threshold for review by the FIRB is $231 million, which WAFarmers president, Mike Norton, said was far too high.

“The average value of Western Australian agricultural properties is between $1 million and $10 million, so you could sell off the majority of the Western Australian agricultural sector and not trigger the interest of the FIRB,” Mr Norton said.

He said a reduction in the threshold was the only way to ensure foreign investment was properly monitored.

“Whilst our concern is not with the foreign investment itself, WAFarmers believes there is a need for greater transparency in the current and future levels of ownership of Australian farmland by foreign interests.

“As such we seek the Federal Government to reduce the current trigger, which would result in the FIRB being able to consider a greater number of agricultural applications.”

VFF president Andrew Broad said the current threshold rendered the FIRB toothless in an agricultural setting.

“For example, a foreign business can buy a $10m property in the Western district, which is a significant purchase but does not register a blip on the FIRB radar.

”There is not any information about tracking creeping acquisitions either.”

The NFF had a more measured approach, saying the report needed to be analysed to help produce a better policy on foreign investment.

“Foreign investment continues to be a major source of contention for our members and the wider agricultural industry, but until now, we have not had a clear picture of what investment is actually being made in agricultural land and agribusinesses,” Mr Laurie said.

“With the release of the ABS data last year and the ABARES report today we can now piece together the puzzle on foreign investment, understand the current levels of interest and funding into Australia, and seek sensible policy decisions to manage the impact of this on the long-term future of our sector.

“It has been said that this is a debate without data. Now that we have the data, the Government has made some decisions about how to address this issue – and now is time for the debate,” Mr Laurie said.