China farmland ownership map is way off the mark
The map drastically overstates the reality. Photo: TND/AAP
An map shared on social media – coupled with a co-opted Joe Rogan podcast – is spreading alarm by drastically overstating the amount of Australian farmland owned by Chinese concerns.
The map overstates the actual area by at least 10 times.
The map, which shows vast swathes of the nation’s interior coloured red, appears spliced into a social media video featuring American podcaster Rogan talking with Australian expedition leader Adam Cropp.
“It’s crazy, we’ve sold huge farms – these massive, massive farms in the centre of Australia – to China over the last five years or so,” Cropp says in the video.
A repost of the video appears with the caption: “China doesn’t need to invade us, they already own a huge chunk of our farm land”.
The original 2016 podcast does not feature the map in the post, but Cropp does mention a map of Chinese ownership showing “a lot of Australia” coloured red.
The most recent official figures show Chinese investors hold about 2.1 per cent of agricultural land in Australia.
The original 2016 Joe Rogan podcast does not feature the map. Photo: TikTok
The government recently unveiled reforms to streamline the foreign investment review process, aiming to attract more capital from friendly countries while tightening scrutiny of higher-risk investors.
The map in the video which has appeared recently on both Facebook and TikTok, was previously debunked by AFP FactCheck using official data.
The federal government maintains a register of foreign ownership of agricultural land, with the most recent edition published in November 2024 covering the period to June 2023.
The report defines any entity that’s at least 20 per cent foreign-owned as a “foreign person”.
Chinese investors held just 2.1 per cent of Australia’s agricultural land as of June 2023 (page 20), it said.
That equates to about 7.6 million hectares, of which 6.8 million are leasehold.
That’s roughly 1 per cent of Australia’s total landmass, but the map falsely suggests Chinese investors own an area at least 10 times larger.
Chinese investors are the leading foreign holders of Australian farmland at 2.1 per cent, just ahead of UK investors at 2.0 per cent.
The map’s origin is unclear, but versions have been circulating since 2016.
-AAP
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