For sale: Farms hit the market for $63m-plus combined

The autumn selling season is heating up with a series of top Victorian and NSW Riverina cropping and grazing properties set to test the market.

NSW agricultural investor Rob Topfer and wife Becky Sparks are selling Wagga Wagga farms Walteela and Fletchers.

From major cropping properties in Victoria’s west and north, to irrigated cropping and beef properties by the Murrumbidgee River, the autumn selling season is starting to heat up.

Walteela and Fletchers are for sale at a combined value of $32m.

WAGGA WAGGA, NSW
WALTEELA, FLETCHERS
Property: mixed farming
Size: 765.6ha and 263.9ha
Sale: private treaty
Price: Walteela, $23.1m, Fletchers, $8.9m (plus water entitlements for both)
Agent: LAWD Agribusiness
Contact: Col Medway, 0428 481 243 and Tim Corcoran, 0407 893 935

Farmland home to first-class irrigation, dryland cropping and grazing located in the heart of the NSW Riverina is for sale, two years after first hitting the market.

Situated 13km west of Wagga Wagga, 1029ha of mixed farmland next to the Murrumbidgee River is on the market, offered for sale as separate assets known as Walteela, spanning 765.9ha and the adjoining 263.9ha Fletchers.

Offered for sale by NSW agricultural investor Rob Topfer and wife Becky Sparks, Walteela is priced at $23.1m, for land and fixed improvements, while land and fixed improvements at Fletchers are also for sale at $8.9m.

LAWD Agribusiness agents Col Medway and Tim Corcoran are handling the sale of both properties, via separate private treaties.

Walteela is for sale with 1590ML of water entitlements, available at market value, which have proved crucial to production at the property.

At Walteela there is 192.4ha of spray irrigation under seven pivot irrigators, supported by 955ML of mid-Murrumbidgee Zone 3 alluvial groundwater and 635ML general security Murrumbidgee regulated river water source.

Meanwhile, Fletchers offers 112ha of spray irrigation under three new pivot irrigators, supplied by a new diesel-powered bore, and is supported by 600ML of mid-Murrumbidgee Zone 3 alluvial groundwater source water entitlements, available at market value.

In recent years the properties have run together, carrying more than 500 head of cattle and growing fodder crops.

Excel Farms are selling the 1152ha Kurkeim cropping farms near Minyip.

MINYIP
KURKEIM
Property: cropping
Size: 1152ha
Sale: expressions of interest closing March 28 at noon
Price: more than $16,060 a hectare
Agent: LAWD Agribusiness
Contact: Danny Thomas, 0439 349 977 and Patrick Kerr, 0451 142 791

A Canadian superannuation giant in partnership with a prominent Victorian farming family, are looking to offload a large-scale broadacre cropping property in Victoria’s west.

Excel Farms operated by Nick Paterson – the son of prominent Western District landholders and ACE Radio founders Rowly and Judy Paterson – backed by Canada’s Fiera Comox Partners, are selling 1152ha Wimmera cropping farm, Kurkeim.

Comprising three non-contiguous properties, Kurkeim offers 96 per cent arability and significant scale in the state’s tightly held Wimmera wheatbelt region.

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 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 listing 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 it also listed the 2821ha Boorala Aggregation at Frances, 30km northeast of Naracoorte in South Australia’s southeast, where it was 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.

LAWD Agribusiness senior director Danny Thomas is handling the sale of Kurkeim alongside director Patrick Kerr.

“Kirkeim is considered one of the premier cropping holdings in the tightly held Wimmera region,” Mr Thomas said.

“The property comprises a total land area of 1152ha across three non-contiguous land holdings, currently utilised for the production of high-yielding dryland crops, with a particular focus on lentil production as well as oilseeds and cereals.

“The property has the potential to be sold in one line or as separate lots, we would expect to see interest at both local and corporate levels.

“We expect the market to see value in excess of $6500 per acre ($16,060 a hectare).”

Located between Nathalia and Kotupna, the Summit Aggregation has extensive frontage to the Goulburn River.

NATHALIA
SUMMIT AGGREGATION
Property: mixed farming
Size: 1950ha
Sale: expressions of interest closing April 16 at 4pm
Price: $13.5-$15.3m plus water entitlements
Agent: Inglis Rural Property, Elders Real Estate Deniliquin
Contact: Sam Triggs, 0410 683 891, Liam Griffiths 0427 474 900 and Matt Horne, 0409 355 733

Investors and farmers alike are expected to show interest in an aggregation of almost 2000ha of mixed farmland across northern Victoria, paired with almost 870ML of water entitlements.

The 1950ha Summit Aggregation has been listed for sale by a family-owned farming company, Summit Farms Pty Ltd, offering four parcels as a whole or in four separate lots, located 40km east of Echuca.

The Summit Aggregation comprises the 872ha Willunga, 476ha Summit, 440ha Rothwell Park and 162ha Mulberry Tree, with the three contiguous and one adjacent offering productive broadacre farming and grazing country well located between Nathalia and Kotupna.

The aggregation sits on typically fertile red, brown earths across a flat landscape, with 89 per cent considered highly arable with little to no paddock timber allowing efficiencies for large-scale machinery and equipment traffic and associated management.

Offered for sale via expressions of interest, the aggregation is expected to be worth $13.5-$15.3m, plus water entitlements.

Family-owned farming company, Summit Farms Pty Ltd, are selling their 1950ha aggregation near Nathalia.

Attached to the portfolio are 699ML Goulburn River high reliability and 170ML Goulburn River low reliability.

“The Summit Aggregation is well-known in the district due to the long ownership by a single family and also its size,” Inglis Rural Property CEO Sam Triggs.

“Suited to investors and farmers seeking to acquire an aggregation of high quality, consistently performing farming land or equally attractive to local landholders and family operators looking to secure additional scale have the opportunity to the property in part.

“The irrigation land and water provide an excellent opportunity for future development and improvement.”

Under current ownership, the aggregation has been managed with a focus on sheep and wool production in conjunction with a dryland winter cropping and fodder production program.

Historically, about 1000ha are cropped alongside 2000-2500 merino ewes and followers.