Fortune Agriculture on track for 2027 Territory start-up

An ambitious plan to develop an orchard in the Territory is beginning to bear fruit. Read the latest on this development.

Peter Wood, Fran Kilgariff, Fortune Agriculture, Singleton Station.

Work continues on Australian-start-up Fortune Agribusiness’ Singleton Station orchard project, with approvals in train for a second trial farm on site while produce from the first pilot plantings has been “outstanding”.

Located about 120km south of Tennant Creek, Fortune Agribusiness wants to develop an orchard over four stages and nine years, which would eventually help feed the Territory, Australian and eventually Asian markets.

Fortune Agribusiness’ origin story began 10 years ago with an NT Government prospectus titled Horticulture in Central Australia.

Fortune’s chairman Peter Wood said the prospectus identified the Western Davenport, Alice Springs, Tennant Creek and Ti Tree aquifers as being suitable for development and sought expressions of interest from potential investors.

“There’d obviously been a lot of work done beforehand identifying and investigating the groundwater resources in Central Australia,” Mr Wood said.

Peter Wood at the Singleton Station orchard.

“Through various coincidences a colleague and I became aware of the prospectus and the Western Davenport was attractive because it had the biggest volume of water and was also the least developed.”

Formerly employed by engineering consultants GHD and with a background in geology, Peter teamed with colleagues including a water engineer to form Fortune Agribusiness, in the process beginning the long search for investors, backers and approvals to get the project off the ground.

Ten years later, they’re still in the trial phase, but Peter is as optimistic as he was from day one the project will eventually deliver for all parties.

Fortune has been granted a water access license over four stages, beginning with a 12.7 gigalitre stage one allocation, progressively building up to 40,000 megalitres (40 gigalitres) by stage four.

Stage one, which is expected to commence in 2027, will take three years, with the three remaining stages anticipated to be two years each.

The Singleton farm is designed to be built over 3300 hectares, with the initial 12.7 gigalitre allocation enough to water about 1000 hectares.

Peter Wood and Fran Kilgariff at the site of the 3 hectare trial plot.

One of the crops at Singleton Station. Picture: Camden Smith

Despite NT agronomists and scientists over many years determining waterflows in Central Australian aquifers could support horticulture development, the Central Land Council has led the anti-development charge against the project.

In June, responding to the NT Court of Appeals’ rejection of their appeal against the water license approval, the CLC said it would take the issue to the High Court. A decision on whether the High Court will hear the matter is pending.

Peter said the legal back-and-forth had delayed the project but he is no less determined to go-ahead, believing there are genuine markets for the mandarins and table grapes which will be the two main fruit produced at Singleton.

“This area will fit a window in the market place because of the seasonality of the crops,” he said. “The crops in this part of the Territory will ripen a couple of months earlier than the rest of Australia, meaning we can replace imports that would come in during that period.

“You can get a better price for your market, a premium price, because you’re filling a window by growing the produce Australians like to eat out of season.”

Despite the legal and approval delays, Peter remains as optimistic as he was on day one. He said that when the $250 million project hits its stage four targets, it will have a full-time workforce of up to 150 people as well as a seasonal workforce of up to 1350.

He estimates mandarins and table grapes will make up about two-thirds of the orchard, with seasonal vegetables, local produce and trial plots making up the bulk of the rest of the orchard.

Fran Kilgariff with a mandarin at the orchard. Picture: Camden Smith.

Stage one will also include annual crops such as onions, rock melons and fodder to provide income during the four or five years while the two fruits are reaching maturity.

“It’s easier to get a quick cash flow with the seasonal vegetables when you’re waiting four years for the mandarins to grow and two years for the grapes,” Peter said.

A lot of the project, when fully developed, will go to domestic and international markets but within that we want to supply as much as we can to the local communities.

“There’s no doubt we can have a supply chain from Singleton to Tennant Creek, or Ali Curung, that eliminates a lot of the cost of fruit and vegetables that Territorians in remote regions are currently paying.”

Project ambassador and former Alice Springs mayor Fran Kilgariff said she is on board because of the economic benefits the project will deliver the Barkly region and the Territory.
“I believe the scientists and the large amount of studies which say this project can happen and it will also be highly regulated,” she said. “If there will be any changes to the environment, then they will be quickly picked up and appropriate changes made.”

Peter said fruit from the half-hectare trial plot which was planted about three years ago was “outstanding”, and there are now plans to expand the trial plot by a further three hectares, which they hope will be online by the end of the year.

In keeping with the red tape that has followed the project, the company is waiting for approvals for a 40-megalitre water license from the Water Controller and approval to clear four-and-a-half hectares from the Pastoral Land Board.

“We’ve concluded a drilling and testing program and while we don’t have all the results back, the yield from the two production bores was significantly higher than we concluded in our modelling, which is a good sign.

“After the initial 12.7 gigalitre stage one water allocation, the protection mechanism in place means if the aquifer doesn’t behave as expected, we’ll be rolled back,” he said.

”Of course there is a return for investors, but there are enormous benefits for local communities, native title holders, and there’s a huge potential for people to develop their own farms and access our processing facilities and cold storage.

“The approval processes are very long, but we believe we’re getting towards the finish line on that.”