February 14, 2022

By Lynda Kiernan-Stone, Global AgInvesting Media

Where there is a change of ownership for the largest and most iconic agricultural assets in Australia, you’ll likely discover that Elders played a key role in making it happen. 

Just two recent examples occurred last year when Hancock Agriculture, the second largest producer of beef in Australia, and its joint venture partner S. Kidman and Co. appointed Elders in March 2021 to market a portfolio of seven of its Northern Australia beef production assets. (GAI News interviewed Mark Barber, head of agribusiness investment services for Elders, and Tom Russo, general manager for Elders about the sale of this portfolio. You can read their insights here.) As that sell-down continues, Elders oversaw contracts on behalf of Hancock and S. Kidman to sell Phoenix Farm, located in the Northern Territory, and Innamincka and Mecumba stations in South Australia, to Crown Point Pastoral – a joint venture between the Oldfield and Costello families.

Then, in September of last year, goFARM, one of the largest agricultural investors and managers in Australia, appointed Elders to market Yarrabee Park – one of the largest contiguous broadacre cropping assets in Eastern Australia. 

At the time, Mark Barber, head of agribusiness investment services for Elders, said, “Australian agriculture  has reached a point where assets of this caliber and scale are able to be offered to a market that is experiencing significant liquidity at this level. Institutional investors know that they can invest in assets such as Yarrabee Park and exit at their choosing, knowing there is an expanding pool of capital looking to deploy in the sector.”

Today, the expertise that Elders lends is being called upon by the Manera family to market the assets of Macadamia Enterprises in Bundaberg in Central Queensland. 

The time, energy, and commitment of the Manera family to Macadamia Enterprises is evident across the entire aggregation. Reaching a standard not often achieved in rural ag assets, the orchards produced 1,478 tons of macadamia nuts (in-shell) at 10 percent moisture last year from 343.53 hectares (848.88 acres) of planted land. Even more impressive, since 2020 the orchard has been producing nuts with a net-negative carbon emissions profile, due to an intensive 10-year soil health program.

“We have been investing heavily for the last 10 years to improve the fertility of our soils to  increase yield and the quality of our nuts,” commented John Manera Jr.

“In 2020 we decided to measure the carbon footprint of the orchards. We were confident our carbon emission had dropped as we were using a lot less fertilizer and the soil health was improving,” Manera continued. “We were surprised that we had gone well beyond reducing our emissions – we had reversed them by 1,200 tons compared to 2019.”

“We are immensely satisfied that not only are we producing such a healthy food, we are doing it with an Australian native plant and  sequestering more carbon emissions than we produce.” 

Indeed, although macadamia nuts represent a small portion of Australia’s agricultural production, macadamias are the only crop native to Australia that is produced at scale and traded on international markets – making the country a leading global producer thanks to its unique suitability and conditions, and second biggest exporter, exporting 70 percent of its yearly crop.

The lion’s share of demand is being generated from Asia, where urban consumers in particular are more focused on healthier eating and the benefits that nuts can provide as a healthy snack in a cleaner diet.

However, Research and Markets also noted that there is growing demand being seen for organic macadamias in European markets, stating that the global macadamia market is projected to grow at a CAGR of 6.6 percent between 2019-2024. 

As demand for nutritious, convenient, and sustainably produced foods continues to climb worldwide, this sale represents a rare opportunity to acquire a blue-chip macadamia investment right in Bundaberg, the macadamia capital of Australia.

Having been highly regarded horticulturalists in the region for two generations, the Manera family has overseen a range of improvements, including the building of a state-of-the-art automated nut sorting plant on the property able to pre-clean and sort up to 4.500 tons of harvested nuts each year, making them ready for processors. The facility also processes third-party nuts for delivery to Marquis Macadamias. This on-farm capability improves harvesting efficiency, and the husks can be composted and added to the mulch applied to the orchards, creating a closed loop system.

Not only does Macadamia Enterprises offer net-negative carbon operations and on-site, post-harvest efficiencies, but as water security is an ever-engrossing concern for nut growers, the asset offers institutional investors well managed water security by including 1,626.3 megaliters of bore water entitlements with an average annual allocation of 90 percent, as well as 1,022 millimeters of rainfall per year.

Baden Lowrie, Elders Bundaberg, who has been appointed to present Macadamia Enterprises to the market via a two-stage expression of interest process noted, “The orchards have set a new standard in the district for yield and nut quality. They enjoy  an excellent age profile, with substantial increases in production expected in the near term  as the orchard continues to mature. There are very few opportunities to acquire an  orchard of this scale in Australia. We expect very strong interest from large family and  institutional investors. It is also likely to attract a lot of international interest.”

All interested parties can visit macadamiaenterprises.com and submit their expressions of interest to Baden Lowrie no later than 1600 (Eastern Summertime) 25 March 2022.

*The content put forth by GAI 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. GAI 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. 

– 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 Oilseed & Grain News. She can be reached at lkiernan-stone@globalaginvesting.com.