The 33-year-old helps manage around 300,000 hectares across dozens of properties owned by others stretching into Queensland, while he and his team additionally lease several hundred hectares.

"Over the last five years and particularly the last two or three, land prices have just gone crazy," he tells AAP.

"It just seems those goalposts keep moving in leaps and bounds rather than gradually."

Rural property records continue to tumble around his home town of Orange, driven by a combination of strong returns and the 'COVID effect', which saw an increase in the number of people move to the regions.

It's a picture mirrored across Australia according to Elders head of agribusiness investment services Mark Barber.

The company's data shows rural land has increased on average more than 18 per cent in the 12 months to December with the median Australian rate $7060 per hectare.

Mr Barber says for the past five years there's been an average 8.8 per cent growth.

"Typically you would expect to see a six per cent year on year average rate of growth of land price over a 10- to 20-year period," he explains.

"The important thing about those numbers is the trend ... and we're seeing solid growth across the board."

Mr Barber says strong demand from family and institutional markets has bumped prices, with the highest increases in Western Australia and Queensland, while NSW has also seen solid gains.

In the 12 months to December, WA saw rural land increase a whopping 41 per cent, with a median price of $6534 per hectare. Queensland saw gains of almost 29 per cent and NSW of more than 15 per cent.

Orange stock and station agent Stewart Murphy says quality grazing country in the area has nearly tripled from $3000 an acre to a record $8900 in the past decade.

"Most of that has occurred in the last four years."

He notes the surge has been driven by strong commodity prices as the central west bounces out of drought, with a return to the family farm by some.

"We're now seeing a generation come back," he says.

"They've hung onto (the property) because they're making money out of it now and commodity prices are helping that, and they know it's time to expand their operations."

In December last year, Mr Murphy helped sell 601 hectares of cattle and sheep country just outside Orange for a record $13.225 million.

But those sorts of prices have also locked people like Mr Highett out of the market.

"We're talking huge sums of money for someone in my age bracket to just have available while also trying to make a living," Mr Highett says.

"The current prices that are required to buy a farm ... we just don't have that equity."

It's little wonder that when Agriculture Minister David Littleproud committed to a 'future farmers guarantee' last week, the Orange based farmer welcomed the plan.

Yet he questions whether it goes far enough to achieve its aim of encouraging young farmers into ownership.

"I'd be taking on anything that was available to help me but it still requires someone to come up with a significant amount of capital."

If re-elected the coalition says it would pour $75 million into the program, which would guarantee up to a million dollars in equity or up to 40 per cent of the property price and lower interest rate loans.

A similar scheme called the 'agristarter' is already offered by the federal government but as of February only 25 loans had been approved in the 13 months since it started, with only $17 million of the $75 million used.

The National Farmers Federation has described it as "failed" while Mr Highett says neither program will result in a purchase for him because the serviceability of the loan still needs to be met.

"The combination of having to buy that farm and then having to then stock that farm or put in that first crop is sometimes underrated or not appreciated," he says.

"It's super challenging."

Mr Highett says helping him and other new generation farmers with "skin in the game" in their first five years of business is a better way for government to guarantee them staying in the industry.

But Mr Littleproud says it's unrealistic to expect the Australian taxpayer to fund everyone wanting a start in agriculture.

"The future farmer guarantee should be supplemented by an individual's own financial commitment while serviceability requirements ensure the sustainability of the program and a safeguard to Australian taxpayers," he says.

Mr Barber agrees giving young farmers good business and governance skills is vital.

He says the future farmers guarantee is a help "but it's not big enough to really get someone established," he says.

"You're far better off giving young farmers good education, good financial skills and access to that sort of capacity building."

"The investment community are desperately looking for good farmers to invest alongside."

That's good news for Mitch Highett who hasn't given up hope of owning his own property and continues to "look at alternative ways" to raise capital including seeking out investors.

Labor is yet to comment on whether it would support the future farmers guarantee scheme or offer a "more effective" alternative.

"Labor are proud supporters of younger farmers but these loans have not worked previously to help assist ownership," according to a party spokesperson.

Australian Associated Press