Wandattah Ag offloading major NSW cropping farms

Three Victorian farming families are selling their 5015ha dryland cropping aggregation.

Wandattah Ag are selling Nunkeri and Loch Lomond, located near Walgett in northern NSW.

A partnership of three Victorian farming families known as Wandattah Ag, is selling a 5015ha cropping aggregation in northern NSW.

Wandattah Ag has owned the 3325.77ha Nunkeri and 1689.19ha Loch Lomond - located 58km south of Walgett - since 2020 after purchasing it from Alec Wheeler.

Comprising two farming families from Victoria’s western district and one based in the state’s north, Wandattah Ag acquired Nunkeri and Loch Lomond because of its value compared to soaring land prices in Victoria and the southern NSW Riverina.

“We saw value in the land in comparison to farmland on the rest of the east coast. We thought Nunkeri and Loch Lomond were undervalued due a series of dry years while there had been some better seasons in the south,” Wandattah Ag partner Will Cooper said.

“We were also attracted to its low-cost model because the deep, heavy and black self-mulching soils are suited to winter cereals, sorghum, chickpeas and opportunistic canola.”

Recent dryland cropping farmland sales in the Walgett district have seen properties fetch about $5000 a hectare or more.

Nunkeri has 4 x 750T, 7 x 150T, 5 x 45T silos and 10,000T bunker storage.

Loch Lomond is about 97 per cent arable while Nunkeri is considered about 94 per cent arable, with both capable of summer and winter cropping.

Mr Cooper said Wandattah Ag purchased the properties with crops in place in 2020 which they harvested, before leasing the properties for the past two seasons.

Mr Cooper also said the time was right for the partnership to sell the aggregation due to an expiring lease agreement and a full soil moisture profile after consecutive wetter seasons.

Moree Real Estate selling agent Terry Adams was managing the sale of the property and was expecting inquiries from local operators and buyers in Victoria or southern NSW.

“Nunkeri and Loch Lomond offer significant scale and a full moisture profile, meaning it is ready for a big season in 2023,” he said.

Nunkeri and Loch Lomond are for sale as a whole or as separate assets with expressions of interest closing at 4pm, Thursday March 16.