A farmer has warned ‘s national food security could be compromised amid an alarming rise in generations-old dairy farms being sold to overseas buyers.
The multibillion-dollar company German Munich Re has purchased 12 farms in the Corangamite Shire in Victoria’s southwest in the last year.
The lush pastoral area is known for being one of the biggest food-generating regions in and for having ‘perfect’ dairy farming conditions.
The farms will be transformed into new blue gum plantations amid projections the demand for timber amid record immigration levels, urbanisation and an increasing population will quadruple by 2050.
However, farmers say the influx of plantations threaten the future of rural towns in Victoria’s southwest such as Simpson, Timboon and Cobden.
Simpson had a population of just 500 people in the 2021 Census.
Corangamite Shire Mayor Kate Makin said she had a responsibility to protect the rural towns from the widespread impacts of the ‘timber takeover’.
‘This land-use change is corrosive,’ she told the ABC.
‘We’ve got all this beautiful food being made right here in our backyard.
‘But I fear that once we get the trees in here for a minimum of 15 years, I just don’t see the agriculture and the food coming back to this region.’
Midway, ‘s largest timber processor and exporter based in Geelong, has been snapping up farms in the area.
One farmer said he sold his land over safety concerns for his staff operating machinery on muddy slopes and the sheer difficulty of dairy farming.
‘The tree [company] bought all around me – my neighbours sold up … and I thought, ‘Oh well’,’ he told the ABC on condition of anonymity.
‘The tree people are good to deal with, they come and do an inspection, do the numbers on your property, and then tell you what they’re willing to pay.
‘There’s no argy-bargy.’
However, other farmers warn the influx of new timber plantations in one of ‘s biggest food-generating areas will threaten future food security.
Councillor Jamie Vogels from the Corangamite Shire Council says the blue gum plantations marks the start of a destructive land-use trend.
‘They’ll plant everything out to trees and that will take about 12 to 15 years of nobody being here, there will be vacant houses sitting around everywhere,’ he told the ABC.
A Midway spokesperson said the timber plantations would generate up to 260 jobs during the harvests in 12 or 13 years time.
‘There has been extensive and ongoing consultation with the local community, including local councils and parliamentarians, regarding the establishment of eucalyptus globulus plantings,’ the spokesperson said.
It comes after state and federal governments invested a combined $500million in the forestry industry to reduce emissions and boost timber production.