Requirement for Farmer to Hold Qualifying Interest

Definition of qualifying interest in a farm

VEA→

For the purposes of RAFS, a farmer held a qualifying interest in a farm if they:

• had legal ownership of the farm land;
• held a pastoral lease over the farm land;
• held an equitable interest in general law land that is mortgaged; or
• were a sharefarmer in a private company that owned or held a pastoral lease over the farm land.

Sharefarmers who did not own real land

VEA→

Sharefarmers who did not own real land and did not have a qualifying interest were unable to participate in RAFS.

Occupation of property on short-term lease

Farmers who occupied property on a short-term lease rather than a pastoral lease were unable to participate in RAFS because they did not have a qualifying interest in the farm.

Trustee of trust

A trustee of a trust has a legal interest in the trust's assets. Accordingly, where a farm was owned by a trust and the farmer was the trustee of that trust, he or she had a qualifying interest in the farm. This included situations where the farmer was the trustee of an estate, for example where a widow/widower was trustee of the deceased partner's will.

Shareholders in private trustee companies

Shareholders in private trustee companies that owned a farm had a qualifying interest.