Prime Minister John Key has given his Agriculture Minister a ticking off for telling conference delegates on the weekend that the proposed sale of the Crafar farms to Chinese buyers now being considered by the Overseas Investment Office is unlikely to go through.

Sixteen North Island farms owned by the Crafar family have been in receivership since October.  They are reputed to be worth $100 million.

Receivers KordaMentha have appointed Bayleys Real Estate to sell the farms.  They’ve received a lot of interest from Asia, including from Chinese investor UBNZ Funds Management.

Embattled farmer Alan Crafar says he's expecting to pull off three "very good" options for receivers this week. Earlier he said he was locked in talks with overseas interests in an attempt to trade his way out of debt.

Receivers KordaMentha said on Friday they signed a conditional sale agreement with the Chinese-backed company UBNZ Holdings.

Tenders remain open for another month in the event a better offer comes along.

Both Federated Farmers and the Green Party say they don't want the farms sold to foreign interests.

Green Party co-leader Russel Norman says that will drive up already high farm prices, and coupled with Natural Dairy's plans to control the entire dairy process, it could spell disaster for the dairy sector.

Dr. Norman says he has little confidence in the Overseas Investment Office's ability to scrutinise Natural Dairy's offer.