The Government has approved the sale of more than $100m of South Island farmland to German investment groups.

Four consortiums from around Genrmany have been cleared to purchase a total of 12 farms – covering more than 3000 hectares in both Canterbury and Southland.

The Overseas Investment office cleared the bids in December, but the details about the investors and deals have only now been made public.

The German based firms - DAH Beteiligungs, Aquila AgrarInvest, D/S Neuseeland Milchfarm Investitions, and Alceda Star - have appointed Feilding company MyFarm as managers for the properties, which are set to be redeveloped.

MyFarm director Grant Rowan says the operations will inject more than $20 million into the local economy and create around 30 jobs.

Labour MP and party spokesperson Brendon Burns, however, says the sales demonstrate foreign desire to control food supply channels in New Zealand.

"I think that we are at the point now where we need to be starting to look seriously at the proposals; and there were signals from the minister of finance, last September, that he was going to start clamping down on some of these purchases.

"Here we see, though, the German consortium buying half the anchorage that the Crafar farms have involved."

Finance Minister Bill English is not commenting on the specific deal, but has said publicly that new guidelines around foreign investment will create ‘an appropriate balance’ around future decisions.

For a full report on the deal, head to the OIO website, here.