"It has the potential to be more profitable because the land prices are half what they are in New Zealand," Mr Stokes said.

He is one of half a dozen Waikato farmers to have become shareholders in Chilterra -- a 50 per cent Chilean-owned organisation which has bought 2600ha of Chilean land to convert to dairying.

"It's got a big future and there's a lot of potential in the land over there," Mr Stokes said.

Chile's farming systems varied. Some farmers were milking 5000 cows while others had only 10.

Most farms had low-input systems and the average farmer carried one cow a hectare. Chilterra's farms were running at three cows a hectare.

Dairy land was worth anywhere between $4500-$10,500 a hectare and the payout was between $4.20 and $4.30 a kg of milksolids.

Source: Red Orbit