UK, Irish farmers flocking to NZ

British and Irish farmers are quietly buying up New Zealand farms, according to a real estate agent who mounted a series of seminars in the United Kingdom late last year.

"Many of the Irish and some of the UK farmers generate their incomes in euros - a currency which has gained substantially in the NZ dollar (exchange) cross rate over the past few years ... making our farms very attractive," Richard Graham said.

A $1 million farm cost 563,000 euros to buy in 2006, but now costs about 405,000 euros, said Mr Graham: "That's a substantial discount".

He said 10 UK farmers have been inspecting properties in Nelson, Wairarapa, Canterbury and South Canterbury, and more would arrive in New Zealand over the next month.

On one couple has even lined up two weeks work experience on a Waikato farm.

The British promotion attracted about 100 farmers, and for some of them the next step had been visiting NZ to take a first-hand look at both the farms and the local lifestyle.

"When you're talking of buying a farming businesses worth several million dollars, it makes perfect sense to come down and see the size and scale of the investment," said Mr Graham, the country manager for Bayleys Real Estate.

"UK farmers love the New Zealand attraction of wide open `clean and green' pastures - with most of our farms being considerably bigger than the average UK landholding".

The agency had sold hundreds of millions of dollars worth of farms and lifestyle properties since it began promoting them in the UK six years ago, he said.