PHOTO: JOHN SELKIRK/STUFF Andrew Hore during his rugby playing days.

Green Rush – Rich-listers, established farming families and a former All Black are among New Zealand’s top 50 landowners.

Last week, RNZ revealed that the four largest private landowners in New Zealand are all foreign-owned forestry companies, based on an analysis of Land Information data.

Now we reveal the top 50 private landowners in New Zealand, who own over a million hectares of land between them. New Zealand’s total land area is 26.8m ha.

Nineteen of the individuals or entities on the list are overseas-based owners.

At least 28 per cent of New Zealand’s land is in Crown or other public ownership, while iwi and other Māori land-holding entities own about 7 per cent. We have compiled the top five public landowners, not including the Crown, and the top five Māori landholdings.

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