‘A legacy of caring’: agriculture baron Kahlbetzer dies aged 92

One of the nation’s most famed and deeply private businessmen, John Kahlbetzer, has passed away at the age of 92, with his sons Johnny and Markus lauding his business success.

John Kahlbetzer, pictured in 1991.

One of the nation’s most famed and deeply private businessmen, John Kahlbetzer, has died at the age of 92, with his sons Johnny and Markus lauding his business success and “sharpness”, as well as his “compassion and caring for ­individuals”.

Mr Kahlbetzer died in Sydney, his adopted home to which he returned from the US a year ago.

“You have left a legacy for many people who experienced your drive, motivation and caring nature. The number of long-term staff you have had is a testament to how you managed and cared for your people,” his sons said in an obituary piece published in The Australian.

“Your love of sports, art, food, beer, wine and your competitiveness was legendary.”

Born in 1931 in Germany from a broken home, Mr Kahlbetzer first came to Australia in 1954 and initially worked on the oil rigs off Western Australia, before moving to Adelaide to work with Heine Brothers. In the early 1970s he bought a hobby farm at Razorback, near Camden south of Sydney, and then accumulated more properties until he bought seven farms from Naroo Pastoral (Amatil) in 1979.

That was the start of his move into large-scale agriculture and his Twynam Group empire.

At its peak 16 years ago, Twynam boasted 22 broadacre cropping, livestock and citrus holdings across Australia and owned the Colly Farms cotton business, making it one of the nation’s largest agricultural producers.

Markus, left, and Johnny Kahlbetzer. Picture: Nic Walker

But after the Global Financial Crisis, the land portfolio was progressively sold down, aided by the Rudd government’s $3.1bn water buyback program, which in 2009 saw the controversial purchase of 240 million litres of water from Twynam for a record $300m.

Mr Kahlbetzer also created a vast Argentine agricultural operation known as LIAG, which owned 80,000ha of cropping and livestock country in the South American nation.

But last year, spearheaded by Markus Kahlbetzer, the family offloaded the LIAG assets in ­Argentina to the family of Gerardo Bartolome, founder of global soybean giant GDM Seeds.

The $US201m sale was the largest agricultural transaction in Argentina’s history and reflected the Kahlbetzers’ concerns about the country’s prolonged economic crisis.

Johnny Kahlbetzer joined the Twynam group in 1991.

For more than 25 years, in addition to its agricultural interests, Twynam has deployed significant capital into decarbonisation and is now backing a range of businesses involved in green technologies, sustainable farming and renewables.

In 2009, John Kahlbetzer also supported Markus’s creation of BridgeLane Capital, a venture capital firm seeded with cash and ownership of the 80,000ha of cropping and livestock country in Argentina. BridgeLane has invested in companies typically in the online/mobile technology, sustainable food and agricultural ­robotics sectors.

Last year, in their first interview together in Twynam’s Sydney offices, Johnny and Markus revealed that their father had ceded all economic interest in his empire to the next generation in a textbook succession.