Former AACo boss Hugh Killen looks to US market with Impact Ag Partners

Former Australian Agricultural Company chief executive Hugh Killen, who left the company abruptly two years ago, said he was always going to settle back into the rural sector.

Impact Ag Partners chief executive Hugh Killen.

Former Australian Agricultural Company chief executive Hugh Killen, who left the company abruptly two years ago, said he was always going to settle back into the rural sector.

Six months into the top job at sustainable agriculture investment firm Impact Ag Partners, Mr Killen said he harboured no ill feeling towards Australia’s largest beef and cattle producer. “I’m cheering them on from the sidelines. I’m very proud of our achievements during my time there,” he said.

Backed by family offices, Impact Ag Partners is based in Armidale in Northern NSW, and has an almost $1bn portfolio in 19 projects across more than 200,000 hectares under management in Australia and the US. Primarily, their assets in Australia and NSW have been large broadacre cattle operations. Mr Killen took over as chief executive from Bert Glover who founded the company in 2010.

The company is set to grow by more than 50 per cent with Mr Glover being in the US having launched a Special Purpose Acquisition Company with partners Riverstone Holdings to raise $US340m ($507M).

“That JV company will focus on rural assets in a carbonisation play and they can invest in the US, Australia and South America,” Mr Killen said. “They have raised the money and are going through a shortlist of targets and hopefully that will be deployed soon.”

Born to a generational farming family on the Namoi River near Narrabri in NSW, the agricultural sector was one Mr Killen would have been drawn to after an early career in banking and finance.

“My family background has been around agriculture. I spent a lot of time in investment banking and financial markets which equipped me pretty well for the ag sector,” he said.

“I engineered my move out of banking and into agriculture and I will stay in the sector because it’s something I’m passionate about and makes a difference.”

He joined AACo as the chief commercial officer in 2017 before becoming CEO in 2018.

When Mr Killen left in July 2022 he went to London and became the chair of UK fund manager Climate Asset Management, leading a push to establish a foothold in the booming macadamia industry in Australia.

He is also a senior adviser for climate change investment firm Pollination. Mr Killen said the industry keeps changing.

“Nothing stays still in agriculture. I don’t want to sound like I’m always a glass half full kind of guy. I think there are challenges and you’re always one step away from a season that’s going to be difficult to deal with,” he said.

“Australian farmers are very good at being innovative because they need to be. It’s not the easiest of places to farm. We also have regulatory changes, cost of living changes and inflation. You have to be in for the long term.

“Since then there has been a significant amount of change. Even around the regulatory environment, de-carbonisation is going through the market. it continually changes.”

Mr Killen said Australia was at the forefront of being able to deliver to other countries food security and carbon credits

“It’s one of our core strengths from an agricultural perspective. And the credibility of Australian food security continues to grow,” he said. “I also hear a lot of dialogue around things like trading carbon but I am actually really positive about it. If we can deploy the right type of capital in agriculture to really lift productivity and optimise land use. Carbon is another income stream and good environmental outcomes make it very positive for the industry.

“When you break it down farmers have the opportunity to be stewards of the land as well as producing agricultural exports to feed the world. You have to be a bit positive in that environment, I reckon.”

Originally published as Former AACo boss Hugh Killen looks to US market with Impact Ag Partners