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DROUGHT POLICY FOOD FOR THOUGHT TAKING A BRAND STAND STARS ALIGN FOR RURAL PROPERTY
THE BIG SQUEEZE ONE MAN’S GRAND PLAN TO BOLSTER FARM RETURNS IS BEARING FRUIT – THOUSANDS OF TONNES OF IT
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Supporting Aussie farmers This year, the Coles Nurture Fund awarded more than $3.5 million in grants to 11 small and medium businesses to drive innovation, sustainability and growth. Beef producers, Kent and Michelle Rochester were awarded a $245,000 Coles Nurture Fund grant to expand their eShepherd virtual fencing program. The solar- powered, GPS-enabled neckbands enable precise strip grazing to protect sensitive areas, boosts efficiency by reducing labour and improves safety. K&M Farming Director Kent Rochester said the technology has been a game-changer on the farm. “As a wheelchair farmer myself, being able to manage cattle from an iPad without needing to build fences or be out in the field is huge. We can move the herd, control grazing and protect sensitive areas all while growing more beef with what we’ve got,” he said. coles.com.au/nurturefund
Photo: Kent and Michelle Rochester with their sons at Manypeaks, WA.
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Contents
. 7
Issue 26
9 WAVES OF TIERS Cashed-up investors are driving record farmland deals as smaller buyers retreat 16 IN THE GROVE The juice is worth the squeeze for a pioneering family operation in northwest NSW 24 BRAND STAND Building an agri-food brand is equal parts passion, persistence and perfection 32 BARE FEAT Farmers across southeast Australia remain resilient in the face of unrelenting dry conditions 34 MEAT THE MARKET
The Editor’s Desk M OREE – stretched across the vast, sun- drenched plains of northwest NSW – has long been a cradle of agricultural ingenuity. With some of the nation’s richest soils, brightest minds and, thanks to irrigation, the water to make it all work, the district has spawned farming empires that have helped shape Australia’s agricultural story. Some of those fortunes have been built in cotton, others in broadacre crops. But our cover star, farmer Dick Estens, chose a different path – one that looked well beyond the square to squeeze maximum value from every megalitre of precious water. As Conor Fowler’s feature on Page 16 reveals, Estens is an agricultural visionary. In a region far better known for cotton than citrus, he planted an idea that has blossomed into a thriving enterprise. By adding a modest juicing business to his farming portfolio, Estens transformed it into a vertically integrated powerhouse – growing, processing and bottling its own fruit, destined for consumers across Australia and the globe. Today, his operation boasts half a million citrus trees in two districts, 230 full-time staff, three processing plants and more than $100 million in annual juice sales. It stands as proof that with innovation and foresight, the sky – and the market – is the limit. If that’s not enough to whet your appetite, Sue Smethurst’s article starting on Page 24 takes you inside the journeys of Australian agrifood brands taking on the world – from Meredith Dairy’s artisan cheeses in western Victoria to Otway Pork and the globally renowned Blackmore Wagyu. Their recipe for success? Equal parts passion, persistence and perfectionism, with a dash of good luck. So whether it’s pork on your fork, cheese on your plate, Wagyu in your belly or orange juice in your cocktail, this edition of AgJournal is overflowing with stories of innovation – and inspiration. Enjoy. JAMES WAGSTAFF EDITOR
New Cattle Australia boss Will Evans sits down for a chat about the opportunities and challenges for beef
10-15 POWER AND THE PASSION Meet the 100 movers and shakers shaping rural and regional Australia
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News
. 9 TIERS BIGGEST SALES $500 MILLION KOOBA AGGREGATION, GRIFFITH, NSW 31,400 HECTARES BUYER: Australian Food and Fibre (PSP Investments (Canada) and Robinson family), Stahmann Webster (PSP Investments (Canada)) SELLER: KoobaCo (PSP Investments (Canada), Chris Corrigan, David Fitzsimons) UNDISCLOSED JANERIN AGGREGATION, BROOKSTEAD, QLD 2896 HECTARES BUYER: Private family office (via Growth Farms) SELLER: Alexander Woo (Hong Kong) $75 MILLION WIRRIBILLA, WALCHA, NSW 5003 HECTARES BUYER: S.Kidman & Co (Gina Rinehart and Shanghai CRED (China)) SELLER: Sam Swire (UK) $68 MILLION CALROSSIE FARM, MOREE, NSW 5700 HECTARES BUYER: Farmland Reserve (Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, USA) Canada, remains active in the $30 million-plus segment, particularly where opportunities offer vertical integration or strategic supply chain advantages.” This has been evident in recent landmark transactions. North American institutional capital backed two of the largest recent deals: the circa $500 million sale of the 31,400-hectare Kooba Aggregation in the NSW Riverina to PSP Investment-backed Australian Food and Fibre and Stahmann Webster, and Farmland Reserve’s $68 million acquisition of Calrossie Farm at Moree and its $38 million purchase of the 6020ha Kentucky Aggregation near Forbes. Farmland Reserve, the agricultural investment arm of the Utah-based Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, now controls four major cropping aggregations across eastern Australia, worth almost $500 million and spanning more than 40,000 hectares.
WAVE OF C AUTIOUS and considered are the words rural property experts are using to describe the race for Australia’s farmland so far this year, with a clear divide emerging between those still actively buying and those holding back. Varied seasonal conditions have tested producers, from extreme flooding in parts of NSW and Queensland to widespread drought across South Australia, Victoria and southern NSW. Fluctuating commodity prices and rising production costs have further tightened balance sheets for both corporate and family farmers, prompting a more measured approach to land acquisitions. “It’s cashflow that pays the bills and the profit to cover interest,” Preston Rowe Paterson director Roger Hill says. “With the values of land so strong and cashflows having endured the softening of recent years, yield compression is (now a major consideration).” Hill says due-diligence modelling over the past year had shown compressed yields that “may not look good for investors … in the short term” but he noted “an air of longer positivity in the commodity markets.” He adds that some global investors also see Australian rural land as a safe investment option during times of elevated global economic risk. For them, rural assets can be a hedge against portfolio risk, rather than a vehicle for maximum short-term returns. Preston Rowe director James Skuthorp says while overall activity has slowed since the Covid-era farmland boom, upper- tier buyers have maintained their momentum. “Institutional and large family-corporate enterprises continue to demonstrate the greatest resilience,” Skuthorp says. “Offshore capital, particularly from North America and
Cashed-up institutional and family-corporate investors are driving record farmland deals as smaller buyers retreat, writes TALLIS MILES
SELLER: Proterra Investment Partners (USA) $50 MILLION-PLUS TORRUMBARRY FARMS AGGREGATION, ECHUCA, VIC 4031 HECTARES BUYER: McLean Farms (Pittsworth, QLD) SELLER: Australian Fresh Milk Holdings (Australia-China) BIGGEST LISTINGS $2.5-$3 BILLION PARAWAY PASTORAL COMPANY 4.48 MILLION HECTARES SELLER: Macquarie Asset Management $200-$250 MILLION MILLUNGERA STATION, JULIA CREEK, QLD 342,000 HECTARES SELLER: Acton Cattle Company (Acton family) $200 MILLION MERROWIE AND SUNLAND AGGREGATION, HILLSTON, NSW 34,523 HECTARES SELLER: MERS Global Investments LLC (USA) $90 MILLION-PLUS LAKE SHASTER, MUNGLINUP, WA 9048 HECTARES SELLER: Arkle Farms (Paul and Deidre Cowan) $65 MILLION TUPPAL STATION, TOCUMWAL, NSW 5548 HECTARES SELLER: Lotus Oaks
The market’s strength at the top end will also be tested in coming months, following Macquarie Asset Management’s decision to divest its Paraway Pastoral Company business. With 4.48 million hectares across Queensland, NSW and Victoria, the sale is expected to exceed $2.5 billion, making it one of the largest rural property transactions in Australian history. “These landmark deals underscore the bifurcation within the market: high-value transactions remain active at the top end, while small to mid-sized family operations continue to trade steadily but without the same momentum,” Skuthorp says. Below the top echelon, buyers are more reserved. Bendigo Bank agribusiness senior manager industry affairs Neil Burgess says activity is “similar to last year” in the mid-tier market.
Tallis Miles is The Weekly Times property reporter
Torrumbarry Farms near Echuca in Victoria and (inset) Wirribilla in NSW.
AUGUST 2025
. 10 POWER
PASSION AND THE
lessen competition in farming regions across Australia. David Jochinke NATIONAL FARMERS’ FEDERATION PRESIDENT T he Man from Murra Warra, In 2025, their reach stretches from the paddocks to the parliament, from the shearing shed to the shipping dock. Some make headlines, others prefer to work quietly behind the scenes, but all leave a mark on how regional Australia grows, trades and thrives. This is AgJournal’s line-up of the great and powerful for the year ahead — the names to know, the forces to watch and the stories behind why they matter. Canberra — the first VFF leader to also serve as National Farmers’ Federation president. Taking over the reins from the media savvy Fiona Simson, the Wimmera farmer made waves in his first weeks in the job by taking aim at the Albanese government and then agriculture minister Murray Watt in particular. Jochinke has since led the Keep Farmers Farming campaign and led a rally on Canberra to send a message to federal powerbrokers over everything from live export bans to rising red tape. Stepping down in October, whoever Jochinke’s successor is will face both internal issues with the recent resignation of NFF chief executive Troy Williams after David Jochinke built a profile for agri-advocacy as president of the Victorian Farmers Federation before the switch to T HE power players of rural and regional Australia are a diverse and surprising bunch. Some are more accustomed to the corridors of power in Canberra or the boardrooms of Collins St than the main streets of Cooma or Charleville. They come from every corner of influence: bushies and billionaires, politicians and pastoralists, innovators and investors. Some work the land, others shape the laws, control the supply chains or direct the capital that keeps the wheels turning. Together, they influence the daily lives of millions of Australians outside our capital cities — and, more often than not, those within them.
The 100 movers and shakers shaping rural and regional Australia have one thing in common _ resolve, write JAMES WAGSTAFF, ALEX SINNOTT and TALLIS MILES
Mick Keogh ACCC DEPUTY CHAIRMAN W hen inaugural Australian Competition and Consumer Commission chairman Allan Fels wrote about his life as the nation’s consumer watchdog, he titled his autobiography: Tough Customer. Mick Keogh hasn’t reached the ACCC pinnacle yet but in his role as the watchdog’s second-in-command, he’s had to make a number of tough calls in the agricultural space at a time of economic transformation. From 2003 to 2018, he was executive director of the Australian Farm Institute before making the move to the ACCC seven years ago. Since then, the rollout of the mandatory dairy code of conduct has consumed plenty of his time as has supermarket competition and its impact on primary producers as well as consolidation of the troubled dairy processing sector. The most recent agri call in his inbox has been Elders proposed $475 million takeover of Delta Agribusiness. The ACCC has flagged concerns the deal would substantially
Don Farrell FEDERAL TRADE MINISTER D onald Trump famously
Anthony Albanese PRIME MINISTER I n the weeks before the May 2025 election, Anthony Albanese and his cabinet
published The Art of the Deal back in his 1980s heyday as a property
developer. It would not be surprising if another political Donald — Australian
were quietly confident of
winning a second term. But even the truest of Labor true believers didn’t see
Trade Minister Don Farrell — has a dog- eared paperback in his well-travelled briefcase. The South Australian senator and vineyard owner is arguably the most powerful agricultural figure in cabinet in this new world of tariffs and trade barriers. While the American President has created some trans- Pacific headaches for Senator Farrell, there’s also some surprising spin-offs. The European Union’s drawn-out trade negotiations with Australia over geographical indications and other regulations has gone from the slow lane into a new gear as Brussels seeks new friends away from an isolationist Washington DC.
one of the biggest electoral victories in Australian history on the horizon. Eclipsing even the political popularity of Silver Bodgie himself, Bob Hawke, Albanese won a hefty 94 seats in the 150 seat House of Representatives. But of that 94, few were truly regional — the numbers were run up the board by an absolute schlacking of the Coalition in urban Australia. So will the Man from Marrickville reach out to the voters beyond the suburban belt when his parliamentary majority is all-conquering? Rural watchers are looking to what further work the PM achieves on drought relief, trade and regional infrastructure in his second term.
AUGUST 2025
. 11
four months as well as external dramas with international trade. Sussan Ley FEDERAL OPPOSITION LEADER W ill Sussan Ley be Australia’s answer to Margaret Thatcher or Liz Truss? Taking over the reins of the more of a mountain to climb than either Maggie or Liz had during their tumultuous time in British politics. Like the Iron Lady, Australia’s first female opposition leader has gained her party’s top job at a time when it’s desperately in need of electoral relevance. While the Liberals, and particularly the Nationals, held most of regional Australia at the 2025 election, getting the centre-right message across to suburban Australia has never been more challenging. How does Ley balance the climate concerns of wealthy voters in beachside Sydney and Melbourne while maintaining the Coalition’s hold of rural constituencies angered by the rollout of billions in electricity infrastructure over their farmland? The former aerial stock mustering pilot has some turbulent times ahead. Tony Mahar ENERGY INFRASTRUCTURE Liberal Party at its lowest ebb, it’s fair to say the Albury- based MP has
has to strike the right balance between farmer concerns and the ever-growing list of renewable projects that dot the regional Australian landscape. Murray Watt FEDERAL WATER MINISTER Q uick with a quip, Murray
Harris oversees the nation’s largest beef herd of 455,000 cattle across 6.5 million hectares in Queensland and the Northern Territory. The
Marc Drouin PSP INVESTMENTS W ith a total Australian
Watt has held more than his fair share of portfolios since the Albanese government came to power in 2022. Originally balancing
agricultural investment portfolio worth more than $8 billion, Canada’s goliath pension fund PSP Investments is by far the largest
ASX-listed company has total assets of $2.4 billion, including property assets valued at $1.5 billion, including 19-owned cattle stations, four leased stations, two owned feedlots, two owned farms and one leased farm. Harris was appointed AACo CEO in September 2022 after joining the company in 2016. This year AACo posted an operating profit of $58.4 million, up 14 per cent year on year. Its total revenue increased 15 per cent to $387.9 million. The company hasn’t paid a dividend since 2008. Kristina Hermanson NUVEEN NATURAL CAPITAL C onsidered the third-largest assets, Nuveen Natural Capital, backed by the Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association of America (TIAA- CREF), holds a serious stake in the nation’s farming sector. Born and raised on a dairy farm in the American state of Wisconsin, Kristina Hermanson oversees an Australian agricultural platform that includes 350,000 hectares in NSW, Queensland, Victoria and Western Australia combined. This includes Nuveen’s 66 Australian farms, of which, 60 are operated under the tenant model, handing the keys of production back to local farm and asset managers. agricultural investor in Australia with $2.5 billion in
agriculture and emergency management, the Queensland senator then shifted to the tricky area of workplace relations. Following Labor’s 2025 victory, the Prime Minister clearly sees the former Brisbane lawyer as something of a troubleshooter, switching his responsibilities yet again from employment to environment and water. Taking over the role from Tanya Plibersek, the Murray-Darling Basin and the issue of water buybacks reinserts Watt into the orbit of agriculture and potentially another tussle with the National Farmers’ Federation.
investor in the nation’s farming sector with assets valued at $12 billion. At the helm is Marc Drouin, who oversees PSP Investments’ Australian agricultural vehicles including cropping giant Altora Ag, which runs 45 properties across 153,000 hectares of Queensland, NSW, and South Australia, plus Australian Food and Fibre which is run by the Robinson family, whose investments include Auscott Limited. PSP also owns Aurora Dairies, which comprises more than 50 farms running 40,000-plus cows to produce 253 million litres of milk, plus major walnut, pecan, macadamia and almond producer Stahmann Webster. Adam Giles S. KIDMAN & CO T he former chief minister
ALSO ...
Natalie Collard Farmers for Climate Action CEO Julie Collins Federal Agriculture Minister Tania Constable Minerals Council of Australia CEO Will Evans Cattle Australia CEO Tracey Hayes Royal Flying Doctor Service chair Tanya Jolly Country Women’s Association (NSW) president Catherine King Federal Regional Development Minister David Littleproud Nationals leader Cathy McGowan Agrifutures chair Jock Laurie Australian Wool Innovation chairman Hamish McIntyre National Farmers’ Federation John McKillop Red Meat Advisory Council chair Fiona Simson World Farmers Organisation vice president Liz Ritchie Regional Australia Institute CEO Georgie Somerset National Farmers’ Federation Andrew McConville Murray Darling Basin Authority CEO
COMMISSIONER A fter more than eight years as National Farmers’ Federation chief executive, Tony Mahar went from the visitor side of the bureaucratic desk to the public service swivel chair. His
of the Northern Territory, Adam Giles now serves as Gina Rinehart’s agricultural lieutenant, leading her two enterprises to now be worth
more than $2 billion. S. Kidman & Co, a historic Australian cattle company, has dramatically reshaped its landholdings in recent years, offloading 10 iconic outback stations, covering a combined 6.7 million hectares and marking a shift in strategy. Giles has led this charge with Kidman recently making its first property acquisition for 20 years with the purchase of 7000-hectare Jindabyne station north of Inverell NSW, which was quickly followed by a $75 million deal for the 5003-hectare Wirribilla, near Walcha. David Harris AUSTRALIAN AGRICULTURAL COMPANY R unning Australia’s oldest continuously operating company, AACo, David
2024 appointment as Australia’s Energy Infrastructure Commissioner, replaced interim tsar John Sheldon, who kept the commissioner seat warm following the retirement of inaugural appointee Andrew Dyer. Dyer made the position his own — originally working as National Wind Farm Commissioner when the role was established in October 2015 as an independent voice to the federal government reporting on the impact of wind turbines to the environment and human health. Dyer’s role was expanded three years later to include large-scale solar farms and underwent another redesign in 2021 when the federal government announced the remit would be expanded to focus on the rollout of major new energy transmission projects. Mahar’s appointment means he now
Peter Hughes HUGHES/GEORGINA PASTORAL GROUPS R egarded as Australia’s Wagyu cattle king, Peter Hughes with wife
Jane and family have established one of the largest privately
owned Wagyu beef herds in the world, spanning almost four million
CONTINUED PAGE 13
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larger than Tasmania and more than twice the size of Switzerland. Three years ago they were revealed as the buyers of four stations, totalling 3.26 million hectares, from billionaire mining giant Gina Rinehart’s S.Kidman & Co including Ruby Plains and Sturt Creek stations in Western Australia and Innamincka Station and Macumba Station in South Australia.
FROM PAGE 11
hectares. Based on the 160,000-hectare Tierawoomba station, 100km inland from Mackay in central Queensland, the Hughes family have created a quiet expansion over the past two decades. The Hughes’ also made the astute call to experiment crossbreeding with Japan’s pampered black Wagyu cattle breed way back in 1992. Since then their two associated cattle companies, Hughes Pastoral and Georgina Pastoral, have risen to be a superpower in Australia’s beef industry including a recent $66 million purchase of the 33,959-hectare Taylors Plains property at Mungallala in southwest Queensland. Liam Lenaghan GO.FARM F ounded in 2013 by Liam Lenaghan, with investors and developers. The company specialises in transforming under-utilised farmland into high-performing, irrigated horticultural assets in southern Australia, laying claim to a $1.5 billion portfolio at present. A former Ballarat country boy and trained agronomist, Lenaghan’s GO.FARM also secured a $200 million co- investment from Qantas Super to support the regeneration and development of their landholdings. Last year the company acquired the 3300-hectare Eurambeen Station and Grandview properties west of Ballarat while also launching the $300 million Responsible Agriculture Fund to pursue new land transformation projects independently of its existing investor base. backing from Costa Asset Management, GO.FARM has grown into one of Australia’s most prominent agricultural
her dominance in mining but for her fast-growing agricultural and apparel interests. Executive chair of Hancock Prospecting, she oversees the nation’s largest private resources company, the success of which has fuelled major investments beyond iron ore, including stakes in lithium producers Azure Minerals and Liontown Resources, commercial property acquisitions and the purchase of iconic Australian brands Driza-Bone and Rossi Boots. Rinehart is also one of the country’s largest private landholders through her majority ownership of S. Kidman & Co and Hancock Agriculture. In 2025 alone, her companies have spent more than $180 million acquiring about 22,000 hectares of prime grazing country in NSW.
Mark Allison ELDERS CEO E lders boss Mark Allison is shaping up for what could well be one of the biggest years of his career as
Liz O’Leary MACQUARIE ASSET MANAGEMENT A t the helm of Macquarie Asset Management’s global
the rural services giant advances its proposed $475 million takeover of Delta Agribusiness
— a deal years in the making but now under scrutiny from the competition watchdog. The ACCC has warned the acquisition could substantially lessen competition in several key farming regions, making the outcome a defining moment for the 185-year- old agribusiness. Allison, a far north Queensland native who has led Elders as managing director and CEO since 2014, had planned to retire in 2023 but shelved those plans after the board’s global search failed to find a stronger candidate. He has now committed to staying until at least 2026. Amanda Bardwell WOOLWORTHS CEO A t just 14, Amanda Bardwell’s working life began on her Woolworths Group — Australia’s largest supermarket chain — a role she assumed in September last year. Bardwell took the reins at a challenging time for the retailer, with Woolworths losing market share to rival Coles, facing the fallout from a two-week strike that wiped $240 million from sales, and navigating cost-of-living pressures faced by budget-conscious shoppers. In February, the company posted a 21 per cent drop in underlying half-year profit to $739 million. At Woolworths since 2001, Bardwell has pledged to carefully consider recent ACCC recommendations aimed at improving supermarket pricing transparency and supplier relationships. Gina Rinehart HANCOCK PROSPECTING/ HANCOCK AGRICULTURE A ustralia’s richest person Gina Rinehart makes the power-list cut not only for feet in a small food store on the outskirts of Brisbane. Three decades later, she is in the hot seat as boss of
agriculture investment arm is Liz O’Leary, responsible
for the second-largest portfolio of farming assets, by value, in the country. It includes more than $4 billion of investments nationally, including the country’s largest cotton farm — the 93,700-hectare Cubbie Station, near Dirranbandi in southern Queensland — Cowal Agriculture near Emerald, broadacre cropping business Viridis Ag and multistate enterprise Vitalharvest, acquired in 2021 for $357.35 million. Macquarie also owns and operates the 4.48 million-hectare Paraway Pastoral Company, but recently announced its intentions to divest the sheep and beef enterprise, where it could be worth well in excess of $2.5 billion.
Wagner family WAGNER CORPORATION N o list of regional Australian powerhouses is
complete without the Wagner family of southeast Queensland — a name synonymous with ambition, innovation and major infrastructure
delivery. From their origins in Queensland in 1856, the Wagners have built a business empire spanning construction materials, property, infrastructure and sustainable development. Founded in 1989 by Henry Wagner and sons John, Denis, Neill and Joe, Wagners has grown into one of Queensland’s most influential companies. Wagner Corporation, chaired by John Wagner, has driven landmark projects reshaping the Toowoomba region and beyond. The family’s most high-profile achievement is Toowoomba Wellcamp Airport — Australia’s first privately funded public airport — and the adjoining Wellcamp Business Park, now home to the Qantas Group Pilot Academy and the state’s largest fresh food export hub. In May, Wagner blamed the federal government’s “anti- regional Australia” policies for Wellcamp’s loss of a weekly Cathay Pacific airfreight flight to Hong Kong. Leah Weckert COLES CEO T wo years into her role as chief executive officer and managing director of
ALSO ...
David Bryant Rural Funds Management CEO Garry Edwards AAM Investments CEO Guy Hands Consolidated Pastoral Peter Harris PJ Harris and Sons Mick Hewitt Hewitt Cattle CEO Michael Hintze MH Premium Farms Paul Holmes a Court Heytesbury Pastoral Li Ka-Shing CK Life Sciences Hugh Killen Impact Ag Australia CEO Allan Myers Dunkeld Pastoral Company Joe Robertson Australian Food and Fibre CEO Perich family Leppington Pastoral Company
Viv Oldfield and Donny Costello CROWN POINT PASTORAL COMPANY T ogether this pair of mates have
built Australia’s largest pastoral empire by mass, spanning more than 9.2 million hectares through the Northern Territory, South
Australia and Western Australia. The former horse trainers and owners have purchased 13 stations and grazing properties over the past decade and half, curating a swath of landholdings
CONTINUED PAGE 15
AUGUST 2025
. 15
Marc Werner COSTA GROUP M arc Werner took the helm at Costa Group in March
FROM PAGE 13 Coles Group, Leah Weckert has steered the supermarket giant through intense political and regulatory scrutiny. Appointed in May 2023, the first woman
head of Fletcher International Exports, he built one of the nation’s most integrated lamb and sheep meat processing businesses. The company operates
David Bortolussi A2 MILK R enewed growth and global
2024 during its transition from ASX listing to private ownership by Paine Schwartz Partners,
two state-of-the-art plants in Dubbo NSW and near Albany WA, with a combined capacity to process more than 90,000 sheep and lambs a week. The Fletcher Group also controls more than 110,000 hectares across NSW and Western Australia. Barry Irvin BEGA GROUP B arry Irvin, executive
expansion have been the central themes of David Bortolussi’s tenure as chief executive of The a2 Milk Company since February 2021. In the first half of
to lead a major Australian supermarket chain has drawn on more than a decade in senior roles at Coles to defend its place in a “very vigorous” retail market, while signalling a willingness to improve supplier relationships. She has backed greater transparency for fresh produce growers, including clearer contract terms on price and volume, earlier certainty on orders, and limits on unilateral changes to agreements. Operationally, Weckert has overseen three automated distribution and fulfilment centres and maintained sales growth despite cost-of- living pressures, positioning Coles for a competitive retail landscape.
Driscoll’s Inc. and the British Columbia Investment Management Corporation. Costa is Australia’s largest horticultural company and a leading global grower, packer and marketer of fresh produce. Its operations span more than 7000 planted hectares, 40 hectares of glasshouse facilities and three mushroom production sites in Australia, as well as farms in China and Morocco. Costa’s core categories include berries, citrus, grapes, avocados, tomatoes and mushrooms, with premium brands exported to more than 20 countries.
last financial year, the company posted a 10.1 per cent lift in revenue to NZ$893.8 million, beating market expectations and buoyed by strong demand in China and the US. Under Bortolussi’s leadership, a2 Milk declared its maiden dividend and upgraded full-year revenue guidance to low- to mid-double-digit growth. China remains the centrepiece of its strategy, with a 7.7 per cent market share in the world’s largest infant formula category, but expansion is accelerating in Southeast Asia and the Middle East.
chairman of Bega Group, has led the company since 2000, transforming it from a small regional dairy into one of Australia’s largest dairy and food businesses.
ALSO ...
ALSO ...
And he’s not done yet. In 2025, Irvin has overseen some of Bega’s most strategic decisions in years. In May, Bega announced the phased closure of its northern Victorian Strathmerton site, consolidating processing and packaging operations into the Bega Valley by mid-2026. Two months later, the company confirmed it was seeking informal ACCC clearance to acquire Fonterra’s Australian assets, citing national interest considerations under foreign investment rules. Robert Spurway GRAINCORP R obert Spurway has guided the ASX-listed Graincorp in March 2020. GrainCorp is the largest grain storage and handling business on Australia’s east coast and the leading edible oil processor and oilseed crusher in Australia and New Zealand, with operations spanning domestic and international markets. Spurway was in the headlines recently when he presented to the federal government on how agriculture can underpin national economic resilience. He highlighted key priorities including establishing a domestic renewable fuels industry using local feedstocks and upgrading regional freight infrastructure. business through a period of growth, diversification and heightened global market volatility since taking the reins
Vicki Brady Telstra CEO Adrian Capogreco Nutrien Ag Solutions Australia managing director Joe Chiczewski McDonald’s Australia CEO Sherry Duhe Newcrest Mining CEO Nicola Forrest Harvest Road Twiggy Forrest Fortescue Metals executive chairman Kevin Gallagher Santos CEO Andrew Harding Aurizon CEO Mike Henry BHP Billiton CEO Neville Howell Regional Express CEO Vanessa Hudson Qantas CEO Greg Hunt Nufarm managing director Thomas Knudsen Toll Group executive chairman Dino Otranto Fortescue CEO Vikas Rambal Perdaman chairman Stephen Rue Optus CEO Rob Scott Wesfarmers managing director Paul Scurrah Pacific National CEO Jakob Stausholm Rio Tinto CEO David Williams Kidder Williams chairman
Edward Alexander Inghams Australia CEO Will Barton Gundagai Meat Processors CEO David Blackmore Blackmore Wagyu Tom Bull Kinross Lamb John Camilleri Baiada Poultry/Steggles CEO Wayne Crofts V&V Walsh/Craig Moyston Group CEO Darren DeBortoli De Bortoli Wines managing director Scott de Bruin De Bruin Group/Mayura Wagyu managing director Sam Fischer Treasury Wine Estates incoming CEO Peter Gago Penfolds chief winemaker Peter Greenham Greenham Australia managing director Dick Honan Manildra Group chairman Miles Hurrell Fonterra Oceania CEO Anthony Lee Australian Country Choice CE O David Mattiske Viterra CEO Ben Macnamara CBH Group CEO Midfield Group general manager Mark Ryan Tassal Holdings CEO Raquel Said Nutri-V chief executive Lino Saputo Jr. Saputo executive chairman Paul Serra SunRice Group CEO David Surveyor Select Harvests CEO Darren Thomas Thomas Foods CEO Andrew McDonald Bindaree Beef CEO Rob McGavin Cobram Estate chairman Dean McKenna
Brent Eastwood JBS FOODS AUSTRALIA CEO P lates don’t come much
fuller than Brent Eastwood’s, who is at the helm of Australia’s largest meat and food processing company, with operations spanning beef,
lamb, pork and aquaculture. Under his leadership, JBS runs one of the country’s most extensive processing and feedlot networks, supported by advanced production facilities and a major value- added business supplying retail-ready products across domestic and export markets. The company’s operations extend from Queensland to Tasmania, employing thousands. JBS Pork, expanded through the 2021 acquisition of Rivalea, is a leading pork producer and processor, while Huon Aquaculture is Australia’s second-largest producer of Atlantic Salmon. Roger Fletcher FLETCHER INTERNATIONAL R oger Fletcher, with an estimated net worth of $1.09 billion, is a towering figure in Australian agriculture, having transformed his family’s Dubbo NSW- based operation into a global meat export powerhouse. As founder and
Charles von der Heyde Huon Aquaculture CEO
AUGUST 2025
Cover Story
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Dick Estens in his citrus orchard near Moree in northwest NSW and (inset) Grove Juice managing director Greg Quinn. Picture: Sascha Estens
IN THE GROVE For this pioneering family operation in northwest NSW, the juice is definitely worth the squeeze, writes CONOR FOWLER
B ALANCING the economics and agronomics of farming in an often-unforgiving climate is never easy. But for pioneering northwest NSW farmer Dick Estens, a mix of waterwise thinking, bold investment and patience is bearing fruit – thousands of tonnes of it, in fact. Two decades ago, Estens began searching for a better return on his water. Cotton had long been the backbone of his operation on the sunlit plains near Moree, but years of drought and market volatility had the commercial pilot- turned-farmer scanning the horizon for alternatives. “At the end of the day, because Moree has good summer rainfall as well as winter rainfall, it had to be a commodity that had a hard skin,” Estens says. Almonds were trialled for a decade, but the venture was eventually shelved due to splitting in the nonpareil variety, higher water demands and a harvest that often clashed with February rain. In 2000, Estens joined a NSW Department of Agriculture-led trial into juice production. A large group of growers from Moree, Bourke, Forbes and Gunnedah even floated the idea of a juice supply co-operative, but it never materialised. So Estens “went his own way”, and in 2008 purchased a 50 per cent stake in Grove Juice – a Brisbane-based company that began in 1969 delivering fresh juice door-to-door. “I then came home and ordered trees, and started planting them in 2009,” he says. At the time, most of the Australian juice market still relied on concentrate imported from Brazil, blended with sugar and water. Grove itself was trucking 6000 tonnes of oranges from Leeton in southern NSW to Brisbane — a 12-hour haul — for
processing. It wasn’t sustainable, Estens says. One of his first moves was to build a processing facility at Warwick in Queensland, just over three hours from Moree. It proved a turning point, setting Grove on the path to becoming a vertically integrated operation – growing, processing and bottling its own fruit – and one of Australia’s leading freshly squeezed juice brands. “Generally when you go into a new business, you get a bit worried whether you’re doing the right thing,” Estens says.
“(But) every year I was in it looked better.” In 2016, Estens bought the remaining half of the Grove business. Today, it grows 500,000 citrus trees across 825 hectares at Moree and Forbes, in the NSW Central West, the latter orchard acquired in 2024 from Dutch investment firm Optifarm. Turning over more than $100 million in annual juice sales, Grove runs three processing plants – in Brisbane and Warwick in Queensland, and at Leeton at a site purchased last year from food and beverage giant Bega. The business employs 230 full-time staff plus seasonal workers, and works with a network of third-party growers nationwide. Its sourcing footprint now stretches from mandarins in Mundubbera, limes in the Atherton Tablelands and citrus in the Riverina to apples from Stanthorpe and Shepparton. And the growth continues. Grove is in the process of almost doubling its business, with
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AUGUST 2025
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‘If you build trust as you go forward in the people behind you, whether they’re suppliers or employees, it allows you to move on to the next level’ DICK ESTENS
AUGUST 2025
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Global thinking
T HE Himalayan Foundation is one of many causes and communities that Grove Juice supports. The foundation focuses on sustainable improvements in education, health and environmental conservation across Nepal, Bhutan and the Indian Himalaya. It’s a two-way relationship, with Grove investing money in those regions and bringing workers from Nepal and Bhutan to Australia. Nepal, a predominantly agrarian country with a population of about 30 million people, represents a “perfect” opportunity, says Grove’s owner Dick Estens. “That is a growing part of our business, we find the relationship fantastic and it’s a privilege for us to employ these people,” adds managing director Greg Quinn. This is part of a broader international community Grove is building in Australia, which includes welcoming 23 workers from Vanuatu each year, bringing in experts from South Africa, and workers from Korea, Indonesia and India. Quinn (pictured) says this global recruitment effort has also been born out of necessity. He describes governments as “pretty hopeless” in enticing people to work in Australia. Grove also supports Foodbank, Second Bite, Moree on a Plate and the Yamma Ganu Gallery. The company also ensures its growers are engaged in these initiatives. “We get them tied into what we’re doing, whether it’s how we’re changing our brand, how we’re going to market, or our work with our causes, we keep them abreast ... because it’s important to them.”
An aerial view of Grove Juice’s expansive orchards near Moree in northwest NSW.
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another 300,000 trees on order and plans to develop a further 500 hectares. I T’S a patient process but part of a deliberate long-term strategy, says managing director Greg Quinn, who joined Grove in 2023 after a career in agri-investment, including a stint at PwC, where he worked on some of the nation’s biggest agribusiness deals. For Quinn, the expansion is as much about sustainability as it is about growth. “The left arm can’t move significantly quicker than the right arm, otherwise you get totally out of sync and you have massive supply chain issues, massive consumer issues and massive quality issues,” says Quinn. The new plantings will position Grove to meet rising demand at home and abroad. With global juice stocks tightening, Quinn believes Australia is well placed to fill the gap. “There’s a global juice and global valencia orange shortage coming out of Florida and Brazil … so there’s going to be a great opportunity for juice into the global market out of Australia,” he says. Brazil has long dominated citrus production, but its output is now under strain. Estens sees an opening for Australia to assert itself – just as Brazil has done with cotton. “The Brazilians are now giving us a hiding on cotton growing,” Estens says. “They’ve probably taken $50-$100 a bale out of the market. We’re going to give them a hiding on the citrus production side.” Processing about 90,000 tonnes of fruit annually, Grove runs a tight farm-to-consumer operation. At Moree, machine-harvested oranges are loaded straight on to B- doubles or road trains bound for the company’s Warwick processing plant. Within days, the fruit is juiced, bottled and on shelves at Coles, Woolworths, Aldi, Costco, independent grocers and leading food service outlets. “Whether it’s going to retail or food service, it’ll be in the market and consumers’ hands within days,” Quinn says. “It’s the same with apples from Stanthorpe.” Grove produces about 50 million litres of juice each year, with exports primarily to New Zealand and China. At present, harvest runs from May to December but new citrus varieties will soon extend that window, allowing picking to
begin as early as March. “It’s a huge asset in our own right,” Estens says. “It virtually gives us a continual supply of fresh juice for nine months, and anything we can harvest in December can carry us through into mid-February.” Vertical integration underpins that efficiency. By focusing on juice rather than table fruit, Grove can machine- harvest, cutting picking costs by about 50 per cent, Estens estimates. Water efficiency is another edge. Citrus delivers at least six times the return per megalitre compared with cotton, while using less than half the water. At orchard maturity, Estens says, citrus can average returns of $2000 per megalitre, compared with $300-$350 for cotton. In comparison to almonds, citrus “leaves the nut industry for dead for water efficiency”, Estens adds. Overseeing Grove’s Moree citrus operations is Craig Estens, general manager at Vitonga Farms – the Grove Group’s farming arm – which also manages rotational cash crops such as cotton, barley and sorghum. “When you throw everything Craig is doing into the juice business and across the supply chain, at the end of the day, if the consumer buys a bottle today, they expect when they buy that same bottle of juice next week, it’s going to taste
AUGUST 2025
Cover Story
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Grove Juice founder Dick Estens, managing director Greg Quinn and Vitonga Farms general manager Craig Estens (left). Dick Estens and Craig Estens (above) hard at work in the company’s orchards near Moree. Pictures: Sascha Estens
a privileged position — but insists it comes down to ethics, strong partnerships and mutual respect, all of which underpin long-term sustainability. “When we are dealing with a consumer, quality and value for money is everything,” he says. “And if we compromise on that quality, whether it’s how we do business or who we do business with, it compromises us and the product we’re giving them. You can burn your brand and reputation very quickly.” “You get one life in business,” adds Estens. “If you build trust as you go forward in the people behind you, whether they’re suppliers or employees, it allows you to move on to the next level. That’s the secret to doing well in business. You don’t focus hard on the money, you focus on the people who build your team.” Grove invests considerable time in its growers’ orchards, offering advice on pruning, orchard management and sustainability. The collaboration is critical to delivering consistent quality across the supply chain — something consumers increasingly expect as the market shifts from concentrate-based juice to fresh. “The consumer now is very fickle, and knows what is
similar,” Quinn says. “It doesn’t matter the seasonality, varieties or issues the farm is having – the consumers expect the quality and taste to stay reasonably consistent.” “A RISING tide floats all ships.” It’s a mantra Grove lives by in its dealings with suppliers, customers and retailers. “Whether it’s third-party suppliers or supermarkets or customers, we don’t like doing business with people that don’t have the same principles as us,” Quinn says. “We like to be fair, we play the long game, and we don’t like supplying to customers if they think about screwing price or screwing farmers or heading down that direction.” That same philosophy extends to the company’s network of third-party growers. “It’s all about longevity and building trust,” Quinn says. “If there’s an oversupply one year we’ll support them and if there’s an undersupply we expect our farmers to support us as a business, and primarily they all do. “From time to time we get scallywags that play the short- term game, and we just won’t partner or do business with them in the longer term.” Quinn acknowledges that being able to choose partners is
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AUGUST 2025
Cover Story
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‘Inflation and the reliability of supply chains has been a huge challenge for us. Electricity costs are huge’ GREG QUINN
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quality, and what isn’t,” Quinn says. “It places a lot more reliance and a lot more focus on the provenance of the product; how it’s grown, where it’s grown, and the quality that goes into the bottle.” T HE transition has lifted and stabilised fruit prices for growers, allowing them to reinvest in their orchards, a crucial factor for industry growth. Quinn points to the dairy industry as a cautionary tale. “If you rip the base out of farmers and they can’t make money, they’re not going to be able to invest in their own businesses,” Quinn says. “(Dairy) farmers are a great test case, and they’re not able to invest in their practices if they are not making a return. It then creates a spiral where you’re seeing supply come out of the market every year until it hits a crisis point. “People go, ‘Crap, we’re short, we can’t put products on the shelf. What do we do now?’ Generally, most people compromise on quality. And that then drives another race to the bottom in terms of the market growth and categories.” Grove believes its vertically integrated model helps avoid some of these pitfalls. It helps them keep a higher-quality product in the marketplace and grows the industry. Estens says bigger processing companies can “hold a gun at the farmer’s head” and force some growers to hold oranges on the tree past their normal picking day, which leads to lower yields the following year. “We think we can do a far better job by being farmers as well,” he says. The company’s approach is about taking a longer-term “deep breath” and building sustainably, rather than chasing short-term gains. This strategy, Quinn says, benefits not just Grove but Australia’s entire agriculture industry. “That’s going to drive more investment because people will see a better return,” he says. “They’re getting better prices, they’re more sustainable, they’re getting better longevity out of their orchards, managing water better – all of that.” A stronger, premiumised fresh-juice market, he adds, can help underpin the risk profile for growers, providing a buffer against the volatility of the table-fruit export market.
Dick Estens started planting citrus trees near Moree NSW in 2009 and now oversees a business that grows 500,000 in two districts.
“Because of the higher costs in running those orchards, harvesting, picking, everything else, (the growers) have to get a premium in the market, and it’s generally not there,” Quinn says. “If we can continue to help drive that fresh juice market, premiumise it and drive it more into export, that’s going to create better long-term opportunities for fruit growers, not just us.” This approach to longevity and investment in the supply chain is reflected in Grove’s 22-year partnership with Coles.
“We bring them out to our farms, talk to them about our development program,” Quinn says. “They might not see oranges on certain orchards for another 15 years, but they understand how we’re developing our orchards, where and how we’re looking to invest, where we’re looking to get more efficient, drive better quality and outcomes. It’s a great partnership that goes both ways. “(It means) both us and them can have a better value proposition for the consumer.
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MAINSTAR FORAGE RAPE: DEMONSTRATES SUPERIOR ANIMAL PREFERENCE IN ARMIDALE NSW Sowing Mainstar forage rape, a brassica that features newer genetics, high palatability, and a high leaf to stem ratio, can help farmers improve their return on investment by providing…
• preferential grazing for sheep.
• better utilisation.
• a higher
• more feed.
• higher weight gains.
carcass weight.
FIGURE 1: Dry matter remaining after grazing days
Here’s what happened: Day 1: Sheep preferentially grazed Mainstar and only Mainstar. Day 2, 3 and 4: Aside from a few nibbles, sheep continued to preferentially graze Mainstar until approximately 20% was left. After 80% of Mainstar had been grazed: Sheep began grazing other plants. Rest of the trial: Sheep began grazing the other forage rape varieties (but only once Mainstar was mostly gone). Why did this happen? Mainstar forage rape is one of the market leading forage rapes for good reason. Amongst other features and benefits, it… • has a high leaf percentage, tender leaves and less stem. • was specifically bred for higher palatability and better utilisation. • provides feed when pasture quality and moisture is low. • has a strong tolerance to Aphids. • provides more leaf regrowth after grazing. All of which lead to superior animal preference, easier grazing and more useable feed. A recently released study from Armidale, NSW, demonstrated sheep’s grazing preference of Mainstar, compared to other forage rape varieties.
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Note: Removed from figure 1: Other DLF Seeds brassica varieties.
Trial conclusion Mainstar forage rape has shown to be a top choice for sheep, leading to better utilisation and potentially higher profits for farmers.
For full trial details, visit www.dlfseeds.com.au/about/news/mainstar-forage- rape-demonstrates-superior-animal-preference-in-armidale-nsw
1800 619 910 | dlfseeds.com.au
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