$9m farm sale may be record

A Mid Canterbury farm has sold for what is believed to be a record price for a non-dairy property, bringing in $9 million for the retiring owners.

The 200.6ha dairy support unit at Mitcham was bought by a Mid Canterbury farming couple for a new high for the region of $45,000 per hectare.

Real estate agent Robin Ford said the record was no surprise as the price of dairy support began to catch up to dairy farms.

The farm had not been tagged as having dairy conversion potential, with no nitrate or effluent approvals having been given.

"It certainly hasn't been sold under that umbrella. The person who bought it wants to farm the same use as now."

Mr Ford said about four years ago in the Waikato, dairy grazing was selling for a similar price to dairy farms as competition for land increased. He had said then that it was only a matter of time before the same thing began to happen in Mid Canterbury.

"We are catching up to Waikato," he said.

Meanwhile, successful vendor Dave Wilkinson said the record sale was "bittersweet". That was because he was a man of the land, not of money, and the sale had been undertaken after the culmination of a number of factors.

"I didn't realise it was a record price, tomorrow it won't be," Mr Wilkinson said.

He and wife Elspeth have a son, a business analyst, and daughter, a language teacher, both in London.

"Both of them love the place dearly, but they just can't see themselves here."

As much as he loved farming, his favourite job being setting clocks on the property's border dyke system, he had felt it was time to retire with other factors such as increased regulation coming into the decision as well.

They planned to retire into Ashburton and undertake some travel with family.

The Guardian understands a dairy farm in the Mitcham area has this month sold for over $50,000 per hectare, however this is not a record price with a district high of about $58,000 per hectare having been reached in the 2008-2009 season.

- By Susan Sandys of the Ashburton Guardian

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