The four largest private landowners in New Zealand are all foreign-owned forestry companies, an RNZ investigation has found. FORESTRY COMPANIES DOMINATE TOP 10RNZ has only counted freehold land - that is, land owned outright. That includes forestry companies, who often buy surface rights - known as "cutting rights" - to plant and harvest trees, but not the land itself. Overseas forestry companies dominate the top of the freehold landowners list, taking the first four places, and account for six of the top 10 land-holders overall. It has amassed its forestry land portfolio in less than four years, starting with purchases in the Wairarapa in 2016.

Source: Stuff October 06, 2019 19:18 UTC