Foreigners expect scrutiny on farm buys

Foreign investors aren't being put off by Australia's tight controls over agriculture purchases.

There have been concerns about Australia being seen as "closed for business" following rejections of foreign bids to buy grains handler Graincorp and the nation's biggest cattle station S. Kidman & Co.

But agribusiness consultant John Corbett says foreign investors are happy to work within the system.

Australia had a well-defined system that other countries, some with levels of corruption involved, did not.

"(They) have certainty and that's a big thing," Mr Corbett told AAP, on the sidelines of the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences conference in Canberra on Tuesday.

"If you're a foreigner looking to invest in farmland, Australia is one of the more attractive places to do that."

Macquarie Group agriculture fund manager Elizabeth O'Leary says foreign investors expect a degree of scrutiny when they're buying farmland.

But she's cautioned that fees are a major detractor.

"If a foreigner were to come into Australia and seek to buy a business with a cheque the size of a billion dollars they pay the same fee as a foreign investor seeking to buy a $10 million farm.

"There is some tension around that element."