Eight Goulburn Valley farms sold for more than $13 million

About 1000ha from a portfolio of transformed farmland has been sold for millions to various Victorian buyers. See the details.

Kilter Rural have sold eight of their KAF Portfolio farms for more than $13 million-plus.

Eight transformed cropping farms in the state’s Goulburn Valley irrigation district have been sold in a series of deals worth a combined $13m-plus.

Regenerative agriculture and water investor Kilter Rural has sold two-thirds of the properties in its 1858ha KAF Portfolio, which hit the market in November last year.

Acquired by Kilter in 2020, the portfolio was built from largely transformed dairy farms, comprising an amalgamation of 12 properties across four aggregations known as Northern (520ha) at Tongala, Eastern (431ha) at Kyabram plus the Southern (610ha) and Central (297ha), both near Girgaree.

Offers worth $23.5m were expected for the aggregation as a whole, which included access to 1A Greater Goulburn irrigation water. No water entitlements were offered in the sale.

The eight properties sold so far span about 1000ha in total and have been snapped up by various Victorian buyers, including local farming families and farming groups from other regions of the state.

LAWD and Kevin Hicks Real Estate were appointed to handle the sale of Kilter’s KAF portfolio.

Four of the 12 parcels of land remain on the market and are expected to field offers worth a combined value of $13.2m. The assets are for sale via private treaty through LAWD in conjunction with Kevin Hicks Real Estate.

The 464ha Rendell Dairy, which was part of the Southern Aggregation, is for sale priced at $5.5m, offering fully automated pivot irrigators, which have been significantly improved with new electric drivelines, new fertigation systems and new piping.

Also for sale is the 227ha Pykes property, which has market expectations of $3.4m. There are 67ha of fully redeveloped, highly efficient and fully automated sub-surface drip irrigation as well as a 250ML turkey nest dam.

The 464ha Rendell Dairy features fully automated pivot irrigators, which have been significantly improved with new electric drivelines, new fertigation systems, and new piping.

Of the initial Eastern Aggregation, two irrigated properties remain for sale: Morgans (193ha) and Butler’s (114ha), which are expected to sell for $2.5m and $1.8m respectively.

Kilter Rural general manager farmland Angus Ingram said their developments across the KAF portfolio properties had delivered “world-class average field yields”.

“Our significant capital expenditure program at the KAF Portfolio has focused on boosting efficiency and sustainability,” Mr Ingram said.

“We redeveloped flood irrigation, installed new sub-surface drip tape, and upgraded pivots, enabling remote operation for all irrigation, with the investment primarily aimed to maximise water use efficiency, minimise labour, and reduce OH&S risks.

“When combined with sound crop rotation and agronomy, these upgrades delivered world-class average field yields, such as 9.2t per hectare for H2 wheat, 20.5t per hectare for maize grain, and 4.5t per hectare for canola on our drip tape fields.”

Meanwhile a 505ha aggregation of irrigated cropping and grazing farmland at Gannawarra, in northern Victoria, the Koondrook Aggregation, has been split between four buyers in deals worth a combined $4.5m.

LAWD agent Nathan Cleeland handled the sale.

Originally published as Eight Goulburn Valley farms sold for more than $13 million