Hancock Agriculture purchase cotton farms from Findley family

In a nine-figure deal, a three-farm irrigated cropping aggregation has been sold by a NSW family to one of Australia’s richest people.

Australian billionaire Gina Rinehart’s Hancock Agriculture is venturing into new territory after completing a deal to acquire three irrigated cropping farms near Wee Waa on the NSW northwestern slopes in the New England region.

NSW property records show a substantial aggregation of properties were sold for more than $150 million in September this year, with Hancock Agriculture the reported buyer.

Hancock Agriculture’s big move into irrigated cropping comes after selling it’s final two cattle stations, Riveren and Inverway, which were part of a mammoth $300 million listing in 2021, to Aussie cattle farming giants the Hughes family.

Totalling about 6860ha the Wee Waa aggregation was owned by Robin and Lucas Findley as part of their Findley Farms holdings.

The NSW property records show the father and son duo sold their 2982ha Cudgewa farm at Cudgewa Lane, Wee Waa, NSW.

The deal also involved the 1239ha Pian Plain property near Wee Waa and the 2600ha Pindara aggregation near Kamilaroi Hwy and Doreen Lane, Merah North.

Findley Farms primarily produce cotton, wheat, corn and barley.

It has been reported significant water entitlements were part of the aggregation, with a combined allocation of 23,000ML plus aout 7000ML of groundwater.

Renowned as cotton industry leaders, the Findleys have been developing the 28,442ha Etta Plains farm near Julia Creek in the Gulf country of northwest Queensland.

In 2019 they purchased the property from Alister and Joanne McClymont in a deal worth about $25 million (including land and water licences).

The Findleys have farmed in the Wee Waa district for multiple generations after Robin’s Californian-born father Bill Findley moved to Australia in the 1960s.

Gina Rinehart’s Hancock Agriculture, with S. Kidman & Co sold seven cattle stations and one feedlot covering almost 1.9 million hectares earlier this year.

In June this year, the cotton, wheat, barley and corn croppers agreed to pay $15,000 plus $10,000 in costs for using 584.8ML of water in excess of its extraction limits from four separate bores over a period of two years from 2018 to 2020.

Earlier this year, Viv Oldfield and Donny Costello became the largest private landholders in Australia via Crown Point Pastoral, after it purchased several of Hancock Agriculture’s cattle stations.

Hancock Agriculture and the Findley family have been contacted for comment.