The $150 million Sustainable Agriculture Fund has delivered a full-year profit of $4.7 million and posted a nominal increase in value of $2.9 million for its landholdings.

 

The fund, which is backed by superannuation funds, including the AustralianSuper, Australian Catholic Superannuation and Retirement Fund and Auscoal Super, owns cropping land, dairies, and King Island beef operations.

 

The financial results will see the fund, which is managed by AgCAP, make a distribution for the third time since the fund’s launch in 2010.

 

“Excellent farming practices capitalizing on good growing conditions and favorable commodity prices have led to the strong result,” said AgCAP chief executive, Martin Newnham, who adds that the fund will be looking to Australian institutions to raise additional capital to expand its portfolio of holdings near its current operations in New South Wales, Victoria, and Tasmania.

 

Saying that the medium-term outlook for the sector was strong given the newly signed trade agreements, Mr. Newnham believes that investments by superannuation funds in agriculture will increase despite recent criticism that investments in the space by superannuation funds totaled only 0.3% of all superannuation commitments.

 

Despite particularly dry conditions at the fund’s 9,710 hectare farm aggregation in New South Wales and its 8,936 hectare farm aggregation in western Victoria, Deo de Jesus, the fund’s manager for strategy and investments says, “Our strong profit result demonstrates the benefit of the fund’s diversification strategy versus single commodity or region exposure,” adding that management expects to see increases in income and capital returns moving into the future.