meta Multi-million dollar investment in Australian dairy for new player :: The Bullvine - The Dairy Information You Want To Know When You Need It

Multi-million dollar investment in Australian dairy for new player


A QUEENSLAND agricultural company has partnered with a Smithton couple for a multi-million investment in eight dairy farms in the state’s far North-West.

Tim McGavin, who runs the privately owned Laguna Bay Pastoral Company, said the farm purchases had been finalised and the operation was now milking 6500 cows with a target of 10,000 cows.

Mr McGavin said through the Laguna Bay Agricultural Fund 1 the company had entered into a joint venture with Ashley and Cherrylyn Ker to acquire, run and develop the dairies in the dairy heartland of Circular Head. The dairy farms are within a 15km radius of each other.

The dairying business, named 40 South Dairies, will focus on grass-based production with reliable pasture growth and access to surface and bore water for irrigation.

“The state’s dairies are low- cost producers,” Mr McGavin said.

All up, the Laguna fund’s dairy holding in Tasmania spans more than 4000ha.

“We love Tasmania as a place for investment, because it almost has its owned quarantined clean brand.”

Mr McGavin said Laguna Bay Pastoral Company would look for other opportunities to invest in Tasmanian agriculture, whether in horticulture, wineries or beef.

“We’d love to do more investment in Tasmania. We could invest in any agricultural sector.”

Funding for the Circular Head dairy investment was sourced from a pool of North American pension-investment funds.

“We selected the investors that partnered with our aims,” Mr McGavin said.

He said there would be job opportunities in the local area with the expansion.

He said the amount of milk produced would give the business better bargaining power with milk prices.

“We have a unique business module, we get the right structures in place to work with the right operators.

“We’re empowering young farmers and if they have the energy and the skills then we’ll set up an incentive structure for them.”

Mr McGavin said the Tasmanian investment had been challenging to bed down because of “populist politics” and new marketing rules by the Foreign Investment Review Board.

Source: weeklytimesnow.com.au


Send this to a friend