Canadian pension fund invests millions in Goulburn Valley fruit orchards

A Canadian pension fund has made a multimillion-dollar investment in 500 hectares of fruit orchards in Victoria.

Goulburn Valley orchardists (from left) Chris Turnbull, Alex Turnbull, Stuart Pickworth, Rocky Varapodio, Peter Hall and Shane Hall have joined forces to create Pomona Valley. Canada's Ontario Teachers Pension Plan, through its AustOn Corporation subsidiary, has invested in the new business.

A Canadian pension fund has made a multimillion-dollar investment in 500 hectares of fruit orchards in Victoria.

The Weekly Times can reveal that AustOn Corporation – the Australian offshoot of Canada’s Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan – has purchased a stake in the newly formed Pomona Valley orchard business in Victoria’s Goulburn Valley, subject to Foreign Investment Review Board approval.
The value of the stake has not been disclosed but is believed to be significant.

Pomona Valley is a venture between Rocky Varapodio of Oakmoor Orchards at Ardmona, Chris and Alex Turnbull from Turnbull Brothers Orchards at Ardmona, Peter and Shane Hall from Chatswood Farm at Toolamba and Stuart Pickworth of Pickworth Orchards at Tatura. It boasts about 500 hectares of orchard.

According to Mr Varapodio, who will be general manager of Pomono Valley when the business comes into effect on July 1, the partnership between the four orchards allowed for “the scale required to take advantage of growth opportunities in key horticulture sectors including apples, pears, cherries and stone fruit, across domestic and export markets”.

“This is all about scale required to enter new markets, and the support we needed to put a farm business on a growth trajectory that was previously beyond us,” Mr Varapodio said in a statement. “We are creating a new business that will build on our families’ involvement in the past and provide for generations into the future.”

The statement said all four farming families would continue to play a part in the business with most retaining equity in the partnership.

AustOn Corporation chief executive Tim Lee said the company was proud to partner with local farming families and support their shared vision for their future in the horticulture sector.

“The partnership is in line with AustOn’s existing investments and our vision to empower local farmers to build strong, sustainable and success agriculture businesses over the long term,” Mr Lee said in a statement.

AustOn has become a major player in the Australian horticulture space in recent years. In 2015, it paid $115 million for the Margooya and Canarvon almond properties at Robinvale in northern Victoria and in 2017 purchased a stake in Australia’s second-biggest avocado grower, Jasper Farms, at Busselton in Western Australia.

AustOn is among a growing number of Canadian-backed funds investing in Australian agriculture. PSP Investments, which manages the superannuation funds of the Canadian public sector and armed forces in addition to the 30,000 member-strong Royal Canadian Mounted Police, is the biggest investor in Australian agriculture with more than $4 billion in assets through direct investments and joint ventures.

Another major player is the Canadian private equity investment firm Fiera Comox, which purchased the Kia Ora and Clyde cotton properties at Dirranbandi in Queensland in 2019 and has put together 7690 hectares of mixed-farming country in western Victoria.

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