Mormon church continue Aussie farming expansion

A 5700ha part of a $250m cropping portfolio has been sold to powerful American agricultural investors in a huge deal.

Powerful American agricultural investors, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, have secured their second major Australian cropping aggregation in another huge transaction.

Alkira Farms, a subsidiary of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints’ Farmland Reserve has purchased the 5694ha Calrossie Farm, formerly the North Star Aggregation, located 45km north of Moree in northern NSW.

In a statement Growth Farms Australia confirmed it has entered into an agreement with Alkira Farms, a subsidiary of the Mormon church, to manage Calrossie Farm. Growth Farms represented the buyer in the transaction.

US-based private equity firm and prominent Australian agricultural investor, Proterra Investment Partners, initially listed Calrossie Farm for sale in 2022, before relisting the asset last year.

Calrossie Farm was offered for sale alongside two southern Queensland aggregations, 7934ha Umbercollie near Goondiwindi and 9966ha Jandowae on the Northern Downs, known as the 23,595ha One Tree Portfolio.

Offers worth more than $250 million were tipped for the One Tree Portfolio as a whole.

The value of the transaction remains undisclosed but has received FIRB approval.

Alkira Farms, a subsidiary of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints’ Farmland Reserve, has bought the 5694ha Calrossie Farm near Moree, NSW.

LAWD agribusiness senior director Danny Thomas and director Elizabeth Doyle handled the sale of Calrossie Farm.

Both Jandowae and Umbercollie aggregations remain on the market.

“We look forward to working with Growth Farms. They have a decades-long track record of success that demonstrates their passion for Australian agriculture. We expect to learn a lot from each other as we work together in the years ahead,” Farmland Reserve CEO Doug Rose said.

About 93 per cent of Calrossie Farm is considered arable, producing winter crops of wheat, barley, canola and chickpeas plus the capability for cotton and sorghum as summer crops.

Calrossie Farm is an aggregation of three separate properties; 2204ha Marlow, 2269ha Kirewa and 1221ha Calrossie, aggregated by Proterra Investment Partners since 2018.

The Calrossie Farm transaction comes months after the Utah-based religious group purchased the 26,885ha Worral Creek portfolio of southern Queensland irrigated and dryland farmland, in a landmark deal understood to be worth more than $350m last year.

Last September renowned and retiring cotton and cattle farmers Robert and Jennie Reardon sold their Worral Creek Aggregation, an institutional grade portfolio located near Goondiwindi in the Border Rivers region of Queensland, including 65,900ML of water entitlements.

In that deal Melbourne-based Warakirri Asset Management entered a new strategic relationship with Alkira Farms as part of the deal after representing Alkira Farms in the transaction.