June 10, 2022

By Lynda Kiernan-Stone, Global AgInvesting Media

Australian Agricultural Growth (AAG) Partners has acquired the 14,342-hectare (35,4400-acre) Blackbull Station in the Northern Territory for about AUD$25 million (US$17.63 million), with plans to expand dryland cotton production to approximately 4,000 hectares (9,884 acres).

The property includes two freehold parcels – the 9,400-hectare  (23,227-acre) Theyona, and the 4,942-hectare (12,211-acre) Blackbull. Together, the holding has 14 kilometers of frontage on the Daly River, and spans the Oolloo Dolostone, a prime area of the Top End aquifer system with recorded bore flow rates of as high as 120 lps. It has 13 bores, and holds extraction licenses for eight gigaliters of groundwater to supply three center pivots.

The property had been previously owned by Great Southern, which sold it in 2013 to Peter Malay and Troy Angus for AUD$4.8 million (US$3.38 million). Before selling it, the Great Southern Group intended that the property be converted to a timber plantation, and some of the mahogany trees still remain. Currently, the property runs about 5,000 head of backgrounder cattle; has 5,500 hectares (13,590 acres) of improved pasture, 800 hectares (1,977 acres) of dryland cotton, and some leucaena. The remaining land is  native country, reports Grain Central. 

AAG Partners stated that its investment thesis centers on minimizing risk tied to commodities and climate by greatly enhancing value through active development and management of assets toward their optimized and best end-use.

The three approaches AAG takes in achieving this include:

The development of land: Increasing arable area to achieve revenue growth over the long-term.

Changing land: The conversion of farming operations from inefficient land and water use to their highest end-uses.

Improved farming techniques: Leveraging farmland management entailing proven, alternative, and innovative methods to proactively operate assets sustainably and efficiently.

AAG Partners is working with Moree-based Customised Farm Management, which will oversee the continuing cotton development at Blackbull, where about 800 hectares (1,977 acres) of the crop is being harvested this year.

Overall, the Northern Territory will harvest around 8,000 hectares (19,768 acres) of cotton this season, as prices hit $1,000 per bale – the highest point since 2011.

Cotton producers in the NT will definitely need it. As things currently stand, the new gin in Katherine (the first in the NT) will not be completed until later this year. And with soaring fuel costs, transporting harvested cotton from the territory to Queensland for processing is a costly necessity. 

~ Lynda Kiernan-Stone is editor with GAI Media, and is managing editor and daily contributor for Global AgInvesting’s AgInvesting Weekly News and  Agtech Intel News, as well as HighQuest Group’s Unconventional Ag. She can be reached at lkiernan-stone@globalaginvesting.com.

*The content put forth by Global AgInvesting News and its parent company HighQuest Partners is intended to be used and must be used for informational purposes only. All information or other material herein is not to be construed as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice. Global AgInvesting and HighQuest Partners are not a fiduciary in any manner, and the reader assumes the sole responsibility of evaluating the merits and risks associated with the use of any information or other content on this site.