Property Development in New England: A Study of Some of the Problems and Investment Potential in the Armidale Pastures Protection Board District

This paper attempts to generalize the results, on both the local and the national level, of graziers on 1.7m. acres of New England following planned investment patterns developed from farm surveys. This area, at present unimproved, is assumed capable of establishment under improved pastures over a period of ten years. If all the investment capital required over and above the additional revenue generated by the improvement (assuming no change from present prices) were supplied as loans to landholders, the advances required would range at their maximum between £8 and £10 per acre, or £l3m. to £17m. in aggregate, according to the pattern of improvement adopted. Under these conditions farmers would receive approximately 10 per cent return on investment, but if debts were to be amortized as soon as possible, disposable net revenue would not increase until about the eighteenth year. Many may consider that such a result provides insufficient inducement to invest, but in the long run unimproved properties are expected to fare worst in any continued cost-price squeeze. Net export earnings from such a scheme would be £50m. to £80m. over the twenty years considered, while turnover on the farms considered would increase by some £lOOm. Investment in such development could provide superior benefits to other national schemes, and such peripheral development may avoid the need for some shifts of population while making greater use of existing communications and utilities.