AUSTRALIAN FINANCIAL REVIEW | Mormon church's $490m spending spree exposes trade deal blind spot

Nationals leader David Littleproud is calling for action on reviewing rules under Australia's free trade agreement with the United States after reports of large farmland purchases by the US Mormon church.

Tracts of land bought by the US church-owned Farmland Reserves include Worral Creek Aggregation, north of Mungindi in Queensland for $350 million (August 2024). North Star Aggregation near Moree in NSW for $68 million March 2025) and it bought Kentucky Farms at Forbes for $38 million and Carnarvon Aggregation at Gunnedah for $32 million (April 2025).

Rules under the free trade agreement do not capture foreign land purchase unless they total more than $1.46b.

Grain Producers Australia Chief Executive Colin Bettles told Australian Financial Review it was not in Australia's interests for this to be occurring.

“It’s totally unacceptable that a foreign entity, emboldened by significant tax advantages, should be allowed to accumulate significant volumes of farmland and cannibalise Australia’s food producing capacity,” he said.

“This recent acceleration of a foreign entity’s purchasing power in Australia clearly demonstrates there’s an uneven playing field when it comes to retaining ownership of Australian farmland and our farmers should not be disadvantaged by lax rules.”

Read more