Lawson Grains snaps up Riverina aggregation, Green Park, from Macneil family

2860ha of tightly held Riverina farmland has been sold for the first time in 90 years to a foreign-backed corporate grain grower.

Green Park aggregation has been sold to one of the biggest corporate grain farmers in Australia.

One of the biggest corporate grain farmers in Australia has snapped up a tightly held slice of NSW Riverina farmland, in a deal understood to be worth more than $35 million.

Lawson Grains, backed by Sydney-based global forestry investment manager New Forests and Canada’s Alberta Investment Management Corporation, has bought the Macneil family’s Green Park aggregation.

Lawson Grains acquired Green Park to run alongside its neighbouring 8255ha Borambil Aggregation.

The Borambil Aggregation comprises nine properties including Borambil and Mahonga Park, purchased in 2013.

Spanning 2860ha of mixed farmland near Rand, NSW, the portfolio was listed for sale with a price guide of $35m-plus. The value of the transaction remains undisclosed due to confidentiality arrangements.

Elders Real Estate in conjunction with Paull and Scollard Nutrien Albury handled the sale.

Elders Real Estate manager Victoria-Riverina Nick Myer said there was strong interest from a variety of buyer types.

Green Park was listed for sale by the Macneil family in February this year.

“We had a wide range of interest from corporate, to farming families to institutional interest,” Mr Myer said.

“The purchaser was attracted by the scale, and its position to its neighbouring properties fitted with their existing operations.”

Green Park had been owned by prominent agricultural figure Angus Macneil (AO), who died in October last year aged 80.

Mr Macneil was a key figure in the Riverina, holding many roles including time as a board member for the Murray Catchment Management Authority, serving on the Rand Town Improvement Committee and was a Urana Shire councillor from 1965 to 1989. He was awarded the Order of Australia for his services to primary industry in 2019.

Green Park had been used for cereal, legume and oilseed crops, in addition to prime lamb and wool production.

The mixed farming portfolio had been owned by the Macneil family for about 90 years, and comprised five holdings: Green Park (1392.58ha); Romani (306.3ha); Burnleigh (316.11ha); Karimba (309.08ha); and Moolah (543.91ha).

About 97 per cent (2795ha) of the aggregation is considered arable and included infrastructure such as 3450 tonne grain storage, machinery and hay sheds, two shearing sheds, two sets of sheep yards, two sets of steel cattle yards and additional shedding.

In late 2021, Macquarie Agriculture – the nation’s second-biggest farmland investor – sold its Lawson Grains portfolio, comprising 105,000ha of cropping land across 70 properties in NSW and WA, to New Forests and Alberta Investment Management Corporation for more than $550m.