Canadians, Victorian family sell cropping farms to local buyers

Wimmera farms spanning more than 800ha have changed hands after they were sold by a Canadian investor and a renowned farming family.

Fiera Comox Partners backed Excel Farms have sold their 1152ha Wimmera cropping property, Kurkeim, near Minyip.

A Canadian superannuation giant, in partnership with a prominent Victorian farming family, has offloaded a large-scale broadacre cropping property in the Wimmera wheatbelt.

Excel Farms, operated by Nick Paterson – son of prominent Western District landholders and ACE Radio founders Rowly and Judy Paterson – backed by Canada’s Fiera Comox Partners, has sold the majority of the 1152ha Kirkeim property, located at the edge of the Minyip township.

It is understood 824ha of Kurkeim have been sold between three local farming families who have each secured a slice. The remaining 330ha northern parcel has been retained by Excel Farms and leased.

The value of the sales remains undisclosed due to confidentiality arrangements. When the property was listed for sale in March this year, it was expected to field offers worth more than $16,060 a hectare.

Comprising three non-contingent landholdings, Kirkeim had predominantly grown dryland crops in recent seasons, with its land types well suited to lentil production as well as cereals and oilseeds.

LAWD agents Danny Thomas and Patrick Kerr handled the sale of the Kurkeim property, but declined to comment on the transaction.

Victorian property records show Excel Farms, which owns more than $1bn in farmland assets nationwide, purchased Kurkeim in 2020.

Since then Excel Farms has acquired a series of high-calibre and large-scale cropping assets including purchase of the 8554ha Cherylton Farms, near Kojonup in southern WA, for more than $100m and an expansion into NSW following the purchase of the $120m, 26,839ha Ballandry Station near Griffith in the northern NSW Riverina from David Bartter.

The sale of Kurkeim comes amid Excel Farms rationalising some of the landholdings, including the sale of a 967ha aggregation of farms in Victoria’s highly regarded Western District last year.

Last April they also listed the 2821ha Boorala Aggregation at Frances, 30km northeast of Naracoorte in South Australia’s southeast, expected to be worth more than $37m.

The 841ha Manton portion has been sold, while the remainder of the aggregation is for sale as four separate holdings.