Spring selling getting under way as farming sets the pace

Bramwell Station, above, in Cape York was snapped up by the Queensland government’s Department of Environment and Science for $11.5m.

A bumper rural property spring sales season is getting into full swing with deals getting struck across the nation and plenty of farmers looking to expand.

In one recent play, Carmya, a high-quality dryland farming operation with additional grazing capabilities in the tightly held Border Rivers region of NSW, has been placed under contract for considerably above the passed in price of $5.6m by JLL director of agribusiness Clayton Smith and executive James Mitchell, following an online auction.

The property is being offloaded by private US-based investors and had been leased to local interests for the past five years. Spanning over a land area of 953.03ha, Carmya, had about 629ha used as arable land and the remaining 324ha is designated grazing and support land.

Carmya sports 4.5km of river frontage to the Macintyre River, giving it stock and domestic water security further supported by three surface dams. The property is an equal combination of rich deep black flood plains running to fertile, developed Brigalow/Belah soils commensurate with growing high yielding crops.

Carmya has been farmed for both summer and winter cash crops through a zero-tillage farming system, best practice cropping rotations and fertiliser programs.

The sale comes after Bramwell Station in Cape York was snapped up by the Queensland government’s Department of Environment and Science for $11.5m via JLL’s Geoff Warriner and Andrew Adcock of Adcock Partners.

Bramwell Station comprises 131,900ha and is the last stop before the tip of Cape York at the start of the famous Old Telegraph Line four-wheel-drive track and was sold by owners Wendy Kozicka and Vince Bowyer who owned it for two decades.

Now, attention is turning to one of the premier intensive horticulture landholdings in the Bundaberg region, where the Mackay family is selling Norbrook. It has been offered for sale via JLL’s Chris Holgar, Clayton Smith and Mr Warriner.

Also on the sales block is a 618ha site near Griffith in central NSW with approval for the development of a landmark poultry broiler farm.

Two-stage plans for the site, at 375 McRaes Rd in Goolgowi, would result in a 100-shed facility worth more than $100m and capable of rearing six million chickens at any given time across five individual farming lots.

Approval is already in place for what will become one of the biggest agribusiness developments in the Griffith region, which is highly-regarded for broiler and breeder farms, hatcheries and processing facilities.

CBRE’s Phil Schell, Angus Bills and Boo Harvey are managing the sale campaign for the poultry experts the Muscat family.

The property also features dual frontage to the Wah Wah Channel and includes 1645 delivery entitlements.