The Nature Conservancy and Tiverton Agriculture buy NSW cattle stations

THE buyers of western NSW cattle stations Juanbung and Boyong have been revealed as conservation group The Nature Conservancy and Tiverton Agriculture.

The Nature Conservancy and Tiverton Agriculture have joined to purchase Juanbung and Boyong stations, which span 33,000ha and are home to the floodplain delta known as The Great Cumbung.

THE buyers of western NSW cattle stations Juanbung and Boyong have been revealed as conservation group The Nature Conservancy and Tiverton Agriculture.

The stations were previously owned by Melbourne businessman Tim Roberts-Thomson and sold for $55 million.

It’s believed to be the most valuable private conservation-focused purchased in Australia.

The stations span 33,000ha of grazing land and 55km frontage to the Murrumbidgee River, and were previously used for backgrounding up to 10,000 cattle a year.

Tiverton Agriculture is an environmentally-focused farming business, run in partnership by Nigel Sharp and Harry Youngman. It also owns Mt Rothwell Biodiversity Interpretation Centre, which specialises in breeding endangered species.

Tiverton will operate the property with the dual objectives of conservation and sustainable agriculture.

“We look forward to managing this outstanding property and exploring future sustainable land use options such as carbon, biodiversity offsets and stewardship, and ecotourism,” Tiverton director Nigel Sharp said.

“It will be a grazing operation while caring for the native vegetation.”

A statement from The Nature Conservancy said the deal would protect almost the entire extent of the Great Cumbung Swamp, which is one of the largest wetlands in the Murray Darling Basin, from conversion to irrigated cropping.

“If we are to save the Basin’s rivers and the rural communities that depend on them, conservationists, irrigators and Governments must come together and act with courage, urgency and optimism,” TNC country director Rich Gilmore said.

The Great Cumbung is home to 131 bird species and more than 200 plant species, and will be managed in conjunction with the 87,000ha Gayini Nimmie-Caira property, which was purchased for conservation by the NSW Government in 2012.