Federated Farmers has used the Crafar Farm sale to highlight the loss of productive agricultural land in New Zealand.
President Bruce Wills says the sale causes a minimal threat to New Zealand agriculture, when compared with the expansion of forestry.
He says 13,000 hectares of dairy land have been sold to foreign buyers since 2002, but in the same period, 1.78 million hectares of forestry have been sold to overseas investors.
Mr Wills says the debate about foreign investment in farm land needs to be extended to all land types.
He says more than 70% of New Zealand's forests are now owned offshore.
"We have tilted the playing field away from pastoral farming towards forestry through the ETS (Emissions Trading Scheme) arrangement that we have ... Great to have some trees planted, great too that these things are absorbing carbon, but it's also making it a great investment for overseas investors", he says.
Mr Wills says a lot of that has been at the expense of pastoral sheep and cattle farms.
He says an expansion of lifestyle blocks in urban areas in recent years, has also contributed to the loss of productive farmland.
