Most of Australia’s largest pastoral companies, whether publicly or privately owned, list on their websites the cattle stations, sheep properties, farms and feedlots owned. This was not always the case, and it is probably only done these days to help secure the attention of prospective employees.

The Australian Agricultural Companyis Australia’s largest pastoral company, with more than 500 staff and 485,000 cattle running on 7.7 million hectares (approximately 1.2% of Australia). The strategic geographic spread of these quality landholdings becomes obvious when viewing a map of the property locations. AACo owned stations include:

Northern Territory: Anthony Lagoon (commonly known as Anthony’s Lagoon), Eva Downs, Brunette Downs, Avon Downs and Austral Downs in the central and southern Barkly Tableland region; plus Delamere, Montejinni and Camfield to the north west in the Victoria River District. (The Barkly Tableland’s Rockhampton Downs was also AACo-owned, for sixty years, until early 2009). Queensland: Lawn Hill, Canobie, Wondoola and Dalgonally in the northern and southern Gulf Country; Carrum, near Julia Creek; Headingly (Georgina River), Brighton Downs (Diamantina River) and South Galway (Coopers Creek) in the northern and central Channel Country region of far western Queensland; Goonoo, Goonoo Feedlot, Meteor Downs and Glentana in eastern central Queensland, plus Wylarah and Aronui Feedlot, in south eastern Queensland. What is now the Australian Agricultural Company was created in New South Wales in 1824, and the last of the original NSW landholdings were sold only relatively recently – Goonoo Goonoo near Tamworth in 1985 and Windy near Quirindi in 1996 (after 165 years of continuous ownership). However the move into northern Australia actually began a long time ago. Avon Downs, on the NT’s Barkly Tableland, was purchased in 1921, and Queensland Channel Country property South Galway was bought in 1948, along with a second Barkly Tableland property, Rockhampton Downs. The AACo head office moved from Tamworth (regional NSW) to Brisbane (Qld capital) prior to the public listing of the company in August 2001. There are more head offices of large Australian cattle station-owning companies located in south eastern Queensland, than any where else.

The North Australian Pastoral Companyis another company with a head office in Brisbane. NAPCo owns Australia’s second largest cattle station, Alexandria, and neighbouring Mittiebah, on the Northern Territory’s Barkly Tableland. NAPCo also owns Queensland properties Roxborough Downs, Glenormiston, Marion Downs and Coorabulka on the Georgina River, Monkira on the lower Diamantina; Boomarra and Coolullah in the Gulf Country, Kynuna Station (between Cloncurry and Winton); Cungelella in southwestern Qld, Landsborough in north central Qld; Gordon Downs in central Qld; Goldsborough in the south near Roma; and Wainui Feedlot in the south east corner of the state. NAPCo, Jumbuck Pastoral and S. Kidman & Co are all privately owned, century-old companies that don’t buy or sell properties frequently, and rarely receive publicity of any kind. They have no reason to.

Adelaide-based S. Kidman & Co Ltdwas begun by the legendary ‘Cattle King’ Sidney Kidman in 1899, and it remains in family ownership today – an amazing feat for such a big land owning company. SK owns Ruby Plains and Sturt Creek in the southern East Kimberley district of Western Australia; Helen Springs, Brunchilly and Banka Banka on the western Barkly Tableland region of the Northern Territory; Macumba and the world’s largest cattle station, Anna Creek, in northern South Australia, Innamincka in the far northeast, Quinyambie on the SA/NSW border and Tungali Feedlot in southern South Australia, at Sedan. The other Kidman cattle stations are in far south western Queensland, mostly on Cooper and Diamantina channels draining from distant parts of northeastern NT and northwestern Qld, or other more local drainage systems that run well off naturally bare, stony hills such as Greys Range. These stations include Glengyle on Eyre Creek, Durrie on the Diamantina River, Morney Plains on Morney Creek, neighbouring Morraberree on Farrar’s Creek and the Diamantina River, Durham Downs and Nappamerrie on Cooper Creek, and Naryilco on Warry Warry Creek with the tail end of the Wilson River and Cooper Channels in the north. In early 2009 Kidmans sold Sandringham, north of Bedourie, to Mick & Marie Gibson (owners of western Queensland’s Bulloo Downs, amongst other places).

Consolidated Pastoral Company owns 16 properties in Western Australia, the Northern Territory and Queensland. Carlton Hill, Ivanhoe and Argyle Downs are in the East Kimberley district of WA. Plus Mimong near Kynuna (between Cloncurry and Winton in Queensland’s north west), Isis Downs and Mt Marlow – historic properties near Blackall in central western Queensland, that formerly ran sheep; Nockatunga, located between the Wilson River and the south eastern edge of the Cooper Channels in far southwest Queensland, and Allawah Brahman Stud, south west of Rockhampton in central Queensland. The other half of the CPC-owned cattle stations are located in the Northern Territory – Newry and Kirkimbie close to the NT/WA border, Auvergne, Humbert River and Manbulloo in the Victoria River District, Dungowan on the Murranji (Buchanan Highway), with Ucharonidge to the south and Newcastle Waters on the Stuart Highway, on the western edge of the Barkly Tableland. Ellerston, the historic property East of Scone in the Hunter Valley of New South Wales, was retained by the Packer family when the remainder of CPC was sold in early 2009 (90% to Terra Firma, with 10% retained by long-term CPC manager and part owner Ken Warriner.)

McDonald Holdingsis another family owned company that has now been around for a while, and as pointed out on the MDH website, it is the largest family owned and operated cattle station owning business (there are other large, family-owned pastoral companies however often the shareholders live in capital cities and do not actually work within the business, either on the ground or in the office). 12 Queensland properties are owned by MDH – Rutland Plains and Dunbar, in the northern Gulf, close to the southern edge of the Cape York Peninsula region; Iffley, a central Gulf property; plus Brightlands, Devoncourt, Stradbroke and Chatsworth, south of Cloncurry, where the McDonald family are based. Plus Verdun Valley and Mt Windsor south of Winton, Kierawonga and Leitrim northwest of Rockhampton in central Queensland, and Wallumba Feedlot, west of Dalby in the southeast corner of the state.

Adelaide-based Jumbuck Pastoral Companydates back to 1888 and is owned by the South Australian based MacLachlan family, with Hugh MacLachlan the current Managing Director. Jumbuck Pastoral Company is unusual because all properties owned are in WA, SA and NSW rather than NT and Qld as is usually the case for companies of this size. However Jumbuck, as the name suggests, has traditionally focused on wool production. Jumbuck Pastoral-owned properties include cattle stations Meda, Kimberley Downs, Blina and Ellendale in the West Kimberley district of WA, sheep properties Rawlinna and Madura Plains in southern Western Australia; and sheep and cattle stations Gunbar and Tiarra in central western NSW. All six other properties are in South Australia. Five are straight sheep properties – Commonwealth Hill (Australia’s largest sheep station; 1 million hectares running 55,000 Merino sheep), Mobella, Mulgathing, Bulgunnia and McCoy’s Well; plus Mount Victor which also runs cattle. There’s a simple reason why most sheep properties are family owned (whether large or small businesses) – there’s good money to be made in sheep but only with very conscientious and careful management. It has been said that any fool can make money out of cattle. Mismanage sheep and they’ll all turn up their toes before you can say Jack Robinson. There’s no room for slackness, clock-watching or extended holidays.

Acton Land and Cattle Co(Actons Super Beef) is another Queensland-based cattle company, with a spread of 7 properties from northwest Queensland’s Barkly Downs and Millungera north of Julia Creek; to Moray Downs, located northwest of Clermont; and Iffley, Deverill and Twenty Mile, southwest of Mackay; down to central Queensland properties not far from Rockhampton – Croydon Station, Paradise Lagoons and Mountain View. They also own four other Queensland cattle stations which have just been put on the market – Rugby Run, between Mackay and Clermont; plus Tyrone, Crewkerne and the historic Bowen Downs, in the Muttaburra/Aramac area (between Longreach and Hughenden). Principals of Acton Land and Cattle Co are brothers Graeme and Evan Acton.

In 1989 Robert Holmes a Court bought some cattle stations from Sherwin Pastoral Company and the Holmes a Court family-owned company Heytesbury Beefstill owns a number of cattle stations in northern Australia. Included are Flora Valley, between Halls Creek and the NT border, in the southern East Kimberley District of Western Australia, and Nicholson, situated right on the border. (Sadly Nicholson is another station that has been downgraded to unmanned outstation status, in recent years. Nicholson is now run as an outstation of Flora Valley.) Other cattle stations owned by Heytesbury Beef are located just over the border in the Northern Territory’s Victoria River District. These include Birrindudu, between Halls Creek and Kalkaringi, just north of the Tanami Desert; and what is arguably Australia’s most well known cattle station amongst the general public, Victoria River Downs. Moolooloo, Mt Sanford and Pigeon Hole have traditionally been run as outstations of VRD however they are now run more autonomously; though management is still overseen by the General Manager based on headstation Victoria River Downs. Paul Holmes a Court is CEO of Heytesbury Beef, and his mother Janet Holmes a Court is Chairman of the controlling group, Heytesbury Pty Ltd, and the John Holland Group. Head office is in Perth. For a few years there was a Heytesbury Beef office in Darwin however that was closed in 2006 when Eva Downs and Anthony Lagoon was sold to the AACo.

The Twynam Group is a unique pastoral company commenced in the 1970s by Argentinean John Kahlbetzer. With a focus on properties that run livestock and grow grain, oilseed, horticultural, citrus and fibre crops, including high water use crops such as cotton and rice, all properties are top-drawer; located on major inland rivers in western New South Wales. Many were renowned wool producing properties, some famous Merino studs, however the Twynam focus has been on cropping. Twynam properties include Collymongle Station at the junction of the Gwydir and Barwon Rivers, between Moree and Walgett (cotton, grains, cattle); Buttabone on the Macquarie River at Nyngan (cotton, grains, cattle); two properties west of Forbes on the Lachlan River – Jemalong (cattle, crops and citrus) and The Mount (feedlot and grains); Merrowie and Brooklyn on the Lachlan River at Hillston (cotton, grains, horticulture, cattle and wool); plus four properties on the Murrumbidgee, east of Hay – Gundaline (which includes Toganmain and Cooinbil), (cotton, grains, rice, cattle), Mungadal (grains, rice, cattle, wool) and Cobran (cotton, grains, rice). Twynam has a Sydney office however John Kahlbetzer lives in Beunos Aires, and along with sons Johnny and Markus, the family also own an Argentinean pastoral company, Liag, which commenced in 1982. Liag involves a vertically integrated livestock business plus dryland and irrigated cropping. Properties have a wide geographic spread within Argentina, being located in the provinces of Buenos Aires, Cordoba, Formosa, Salta and San Luis. Twynam have sold several Australian properties over the last decade, such as Boolcarrol and Milton Park near Narrabri and most recently Steam Plains, a renowned woolgrowing property near Conargo (southern Riverina). Macquarie’s Paraway Pastoral Company was the buyer. Twynam also listed Mungadal and Cobran for sale last year however they have apparently not yet been sold. In May 2009 the Australian Federal Government (i.e. us, the taxpayers) paid Twynam Agricultural Group a record water rights buyback amount of $303 million Australian dollars for 240 billion litres of western NSW irrigation water entitlements. John Kahlbetzer was already listed at number 33 in BRW’s most recent ‘Rich 200′ list, with an estimated wealth of $609 million.

T.A. Field Estates is another family company owning New South Wales pastoral properties, growing crops and running livestock – in particular, fine wool Merinos. T.A. Field Ltd was registered in 1923 however the company story began back in England, where Thomas Alfred Field and Herbert Field were born. Their father was a butcher and the Field family emigrated to Australia in 1885. In 1900 the Field brothers Thomas, Herbert and Sydney inherited the meat retail and wholesale business their father had built up. They began to purchase grazing properties and around the time of WWI controlled approximately 30% of Sydney’s wholesale meat trade directly & indirectly (through interests in other companies). In the mid 1930s the brothers divded the company. Tom owned half of T.A. Field Ltd, which included ownership of properties Belalie (between Barringun & Enngonia), Warrana, Bimble (Coonamble), Burrawang and Congi (between Bendemeer & Woolbrook). Congi is one of the five properties still owned by T.A. Fields, and is currently managed by family member, Michael Field. Tom also personally owned Willandra Merino Stud and Lanyon (southest of Queanbeyan). When the company interests were split Herbert received the properties Giro (Nowendoc), Merrowie (Hillston), Red Hill and Widgiewa (Morundah) but remained a director of T.A. Field until 1938. Other properties that have been in Field family ownership include Hunthawang (Hillston).

Bell Potter Securities is the largest private client stockbroking firm in Australia, owned and run by three Bell brothers – Colin, Lewis and Andrew; plus an import from Scotland, Alastair Provan. Bell Commodities Limited owns Burrabogie Pastoral Company and F.S. Falkiner. The historic Riverina Merino sheep studs Boonoke and Wanganella, as well as Mulberrygong and Burrabogie, were purchased from Rupert Murdock in 1990. The Bell Group properties grow broadacre crops (seasons permitting), run a fabulously good quality herd of Ironbark (Barraba) bloodline Herefords; and are home for what is now the largest Merino stud in the world.

Other large family/family dynasty cattle station-owning companies include:

Menegazzo family-owned Stanbroke (formerly publicly owned, though then on a much larger scale, by AMP Limited); Western Grazing Company (Gambamora Industries - the name of the Oxenford family dairy farm on the Gold Coast), owned by Brian Oxenford’s family – Western Grazing owns blue ribbon Queensland channel country cattle station Tanbar; Camooweal properties Rocklands and Morstone as well as Oban (Mt Isa) and Magowra (Normanton); plus the historic Victoria River District (NT) station, Wave Hill. Georgina Pastoral Companyis owned by the Hughes family, based near Mackay on Tierawoomba (Peter Hughes is the principal), and own eastern NT cattle station, Lake Nash, amongst others. Bill Scott and familyown Milo and Thylungra in SW Qld, as well as other cattle stations. Plus Macquarie’s Paraway Pastoral Company (cattle, sheep and cropping properties; primarily in NSW; listed on another page) and an even more recent newcomer, RMWAH, whose properties have been listed earlier.

Family and private owners of far western Queensland properties include Mike Gordon’s Bydand Pastoral Co, owner of sheep station Mount Margaret near Quilpie (on the market at present), plus NSW properties such as cattle station Cooplacurripa on the Manning River, near Nowendoc (north eastern NSW), and sheep property Old Bundemar near Trangie (western NSW). Also David and Nell Brooks of Birdsville, far SW Qld; founding members of OBE. The Brooks family are based on Adria Downs. Brook Proprietors also own Cordillo Downs, Kamaran Downs, Alton Downs and Mumpieowie, all in the same general region. The Daley family runs Arrabury Pastoral Company (based on a property at Surat?), owning Arrubury Station, Mt Leonard and Cluny, all in the Diamantina Shire (far western Queensland).

There are quite a few middle-sized family-owned pastoral companies that fly under the radar of the media. For example the Harris family, buyers of Rockhampton Downs on the Barkly Tableland – presumably related to the Moree-based Harris family that own Gogo station in the West Kimberley region of Western Australia; as well as farming country around Moree. Another example is the Brisbane-based Russell Pastoral Company, commenced by self-made man Wilfred Russell in the 1890s.The Russell Pastoral Company currently owns a well balanced mix of sheep, cattle and farming properties in southern and central Queensland: Champion and Harden Park (Blackall); Nardoo, Longlands, Clover Downs, Speeling Point and Weelmurra (Cunnamulla); and Jimbour and Grassdale (Dalby). The Russell Pastoral Company has also owned but since sold Beemery (Bourke, NSW), Lila Springs (Enngonia, NSW), Dalmally (Roma), Lancevale and Paradise Downs (Blackall, Central Western Qld) and the Logan Downs aggregation (Clermont, Central Qld). Jimbour (Dalby) has an absolutely magnificent heritage-listed homestead ‘Jimbour House’ which though a private home, hosts regular functions such as wedding receptions and the gardens are open to the public daily for a gate donation. Nardoo Station has enticing tourist accommodation and camp sites ideally situated within view of a tiring stretch of highway between Cunnamulla and Charleville.  John and Trish Dunnicliff, Grassy Pastoral Co,  from a dairying enterprise called ‘Boongara’ on King Island (Tasmania) bought the Elliott (NT) cattle stations Mungabroom and Beetaloo from Peter Sherwin for $20 million in 2003.   The Dunnicliff’s Barkly Pastoral Co runs 40,000 plus head on Mungabroom, Beetaloo and O.T. Downs.  The Venturin family have extensive business interests in Darwin, and own Finniss River Station and Murranji Station, having bought the latter from Danny Webb-Smith in late 2011.  In 1964 Neil Statham bought Sundown station, a large sheep property located between Barraba and Uralla in the New England Region of northern NSW.  Two decades later the Statham family’s Sundown Pastoral Co Pty Ltd added the large Moree cotton growing property, Keytah, to their rural landholdings.

There are also religious organisations that own rural property. Top of the list is AgReserves Australia Ltd – a company fully owned by the Utah (U.S.A.) based Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints – commonly known as Mormons. In addition to rural properties in the U.S., they also own farms in Canada, Mexico and Argentina. In Australia they primarily own Riverina irrigation farms – the massive Kooba Station and Benerembah at Darlington Point (south of Griffith), Bringaree at Carathool and Booberoi at Euabalong. The properties run purebred Wagyu cattle and sheep; and grow a vast range of crops – rice, corn, horticultural crops, stonefruit, olives, nuts and others. In a BRW article written in late June 2006, journalist Adele Ferguson says that the media spokesman for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, Stephen Coy, said that they decided ‘not to take the religious exemption status for the business it operates, on the grounds that it is a global religion and does not get such exemptions overseas.’ He said Ag Reserves was not making a profit at that time but will pay tax when a profit is made – this may of course been the case since the article was written in 2006. (This is in contrast to the Seventh Day Adventist-owned business Sanitarium; (based in Maryland, USA) which has charitable tax exemption status; competes directly with tax-paying Australian food manufacturing companies, eg the makers of Vita Brits; and is presumably able to export tax-free earnings back to the parent company in America.)

There are other smaller, but nonetheless significant overseas investors who own large tracts of land but who also keep a fairly low profile. Such as GP Cattle Pty Ltd, a Dutch company that purchased Cotswald near Condamine (southern Qld) then in 2007 purchased sheep stud Portland Downs, at Isisford (central western Qld). The two Australians on the board of GP Cattle Pty Ltd are Warwick Yates of Ferrier Hodgson (Brisbane) and John Cox, Managing Director of Stanbroke Pastoral Company when it was sold by AMP. Though Portland Downs was a highly regarded merino sheep stud, it now only runs cattle.

Apart from Kerry Packer’s Consolidated Pastoral Company empire, there are other high-profile media business owners who own rural properties. For example Tim Fairfax (of the Fairfax Media empire), who has just added Biloela district properties Orana Park and Shenandoah to Minnie Downs (Tambo), which he bought from Stanbroke in 2004. Dame Elisabeth Murdoch still lives on Cruden Farm (Lanwarrin, Victoria), the working farm given to her by her husband Keith Murdoch, on their marriage in 1928. Son Rupert Murdoch owned the famous Merino sheep stud Boonoke as well as several other Riverina properties, before selling them in 1990.

The Myer family have also been involved in ownership of large and distinctive cattle properties and horse studs; such as Sarah (nee Hordern) & Baillieu Myer’s Yulgilbar Station (near Grafton, northern NSW) and Elgee Park Quarter Horse Stud (Mornington Peninsula, Victoria), and El Questro (WA), owned by Will and Celia Burrell (nee Shelmerdine – part of the extended Myer family). And more than one QC has invested in one of Australia’s largest cattle stations. This list includes Sydney-based Frank McAlary QC (owner of the blue-ribbon Mount House station, east of Derby WA; and property at Glen Innes, NSW), and Melbourne-based Allan Myers QC (long-term owner of Dunkeld Pastoral Company [Western District, Victoria, where he grew up] and more recently owner of Theda Station [bought in 2001 - far northern Kimberley Region, WA] and Tipperary & Litchfield stations [northern NT; bought from WA property developer Warren Anderson in 2003).  Tipperary is held under the companies names of Tovehead Pty Ltd and Branir Pty Ltd.

There are a handful of unique pastoral businesses that have developed a supply chain from on-property breeding and fattening right through to  supply of packaged meat to wholesale suppliers, or even their own retail butchershops.  Australian Country Choice is a company started by the late Norman Edward Lee, in 1958, and still owned by the Lee family. The first land purchase was Brindley Park near Roma, in 1961 and a feedlot was set up on Brindley Park in 1968.  From there things progressed slowly but surely, with beef processing facilities built up (Cannon Hill) and more beef breeding properties purchased.  Carcase supply to Coles commenced in 1972, and organic processing certification was obtained in 2000.  The Lee Group Pty Ltd’s Australian Country Choice company now owns a number of  Queensland properties, mostly in central western Queensland.  Cattle breeding properties include:   Babbiloora, Barngo, Redford, Wellclose, Sharpham, Chesterton, Nielia, Listowel Valley, Gifford, Black Mountain and Mooga South.  Plus the backgrounding property Bundilla, an irrigation hay production property near Roma and the Brisbane Valley feedlot near Buaraba.  Leased properties have included Mt Tabor, Gifford, Lynbrydon, Dooloogarah, Mooga Hills, Gunadoo and Antion.  ACC continues to supply beef and veal to Coles under a long term contract, as well as to export customers.  A very solid and substantial beef production business has been built up by the Lee family over the last 5 decades.  Trevor James Lee is the current ACC Chairman.

There are also large pastoral empires that have been built up over decades or even generations, then scaled back.  Sinclair Hill became well known outside of rural Australia when coaching Prince Charles and Kerry Packer in polo.  In the late 1990s Sinclair Hill began selling  off many of the properties acquired.  Properties sold  include Redford and Babbiloora, which Australian Country Choice purchased.  Fernlea, Boanbirra and Yunnerman near  Bollon were sold several years ago, along with Spring Creek and Doobilba on the Paroo River near Wyandra,  Taylors Plains, Hoganthulla and and Winneba between Augathella and Mitchell.   However other properties remain in the Hill family – Tooloombilla and Womblebank near Mitchell, and Terlings near Moree, which Sinclair Hill inherited from his father.  Sinclair Hill lives in Centennial Park in Sydney, and in the late 1990s campaigned energetically to save the nearby Royal Showgrounds from becoming privately owned, when the NSW government rezoned the land and handed Australia’s richest person, Rupert Murdoch, a $7 million grant towards establishing Fox Studios.

Of course the best way to acquire pastoral property is to make your money in the city in another business, or in mining in the bush, then buy up agricultural land as you can afford it, while still keeping the off-farm income.  Evan Ryan is a good example.  He grew up in Mt Isa, worked for Mount Isa Mining (MIM), created the independent Choice Petroleum Company in 2000 (sold to Ausfuel – major shareholder is Archer Capital - in December 2011) and has interests in a steel company – Steelforce Australia.   Along the way Evan Ryan has bought cattle and sheep stations in north Queensland, including the cattle breeding station Inkerman, on the eastern side of Queensland’s Gulf Country. 

Where do most corporate investors buy? Those up the top of the tree know the old adage about land being the one thing that you can’t make more of; and quality being the single most important factor when choosing what to buy. While private corporate buyers such as the Myer and Packer families choose top drawer working farms/rural retreats within relatively easy reach of southern capital cities, usually not much more than an hour’s travel time away, the largest investment in big acres occurs in northern Australia. Companies buy or setup feedlots in close proximity to graingrowers and abbatoirs, such as Queensland’s Darling Downs and in central Queensland. They buy a geographically diverse spread of good quality properties to guard against all the stations being hit by severe drought at the same time. Large properties are chosen as economies of scale are possible. This means buying in Queensland’s Channel Country, the larger Gulf places, some of the larger properties in the softer country in the central west; the best quality properties in the top half of the Northern Territory; and the southern half of the Kimberley region of Western Australia, with handy access to the main highway. Plus larger sheep and cropping properties in the Riverina and central western New South Wales, and cropping country in top-drawer cropping regions, from Quirindi (NSW) north through Moree to the St George region of southern Queensland.

There are some advantages in properties being owned by large companies. There is often money to spend on major infrastructure repairs and maintenance and major capital works, very large amounts of money that private owners struggle to find. Larger companies can take risks that smaller operators would have difficulty justifying; most have survived for generations by being conservative. There are also community and production advantages in cashed-up buyers who were raised in the bush but had to move to the city to earn a crust, like Andrew Forrest, buying back into the bush (usually, buying back the family farm they grew up on, as he did). Such buyers are usually determined to keep the property efficiently producing food (or fibre, as the case may be), and they usually have the capital and interest in making essential repairs to everything from fencing, waters, pastures and stock breeding to houses and sheds. These owners can bring a sense of optimism to the surrounding community, helping to stabilise the value of land owned by surrounding farmers, and some are generous philanthropists.

Larger pastoral companies have traditionally been training grounds for large numbers of young people trying out a career in agriculture. This has been a win-win situation – pastoral companies need large numbers of employees with varying skill levels, and pastoral company employment has given many school leavers a start in agriculture which they’d have struggled to get otherwise. Many boys raised in the city dreaming of escaping to a life in the bush have gone on to climb the pastoral employment ladder while others have returned to family farms with much broader experience than they otherwise would have had. Unfortunately this very positive training-ground aspect of corporate ownership has greatly reduced over the last decade. This is because many companies have become very frustrated with the increasing difficulty of retaining skilled employees (exacerbated by the drain to the mining industry), and/or they have become more greatly controlled by short-term thinking upper-management bean-counters who haven’t fully thought out where the good quality station managers will come from in years to come. This change has resulted in a reduction of permanent employees to a bare minimum skeleton staff on increasing numbers of cattle stations, with the employment of contractors for several frenetic weeks or months of the year to do the mustering. Mustering contractors are under great pressure to get the job done with maximum speed and efficiency and most do not have the time for entry-level apprentices/trainees – so they greatly favour employees that are already experienced and/or who grew up in the bush. Thus outlets for young people who grew up in cities but who want to start a rural career, have a lot more trouble finding employers willing to take them on now. The reduction in a permanent workforce on cattle stations also has a hugely detrimental affect on the social life in the surrounding region, which discourages other young employees from remaining, and it quickly accelarates a downward spiral of reducing population and reduced local services.

Family farms aren’t large employers but when it comes to efficient production of good quality food they’re nearly impossible to beat. Because it’s not just unadulterated dollar-chasing, family farmers take more personal pride in what is produced – which means there’s an inbuilt safety mechanism with regard to the health safety aspects of the food being produced. Unfortunately buyers with a straight finance background usually buy rural land purely as a capital investment. This ‘real estate’ valuation rather than business valuation pushes the purchase price beyond the reach of family buyers who are increasingly scratching their heads and realising that there’s no way a place bought for $10 million, for example, can actually make a decent return on investment – apart from realising a capital gain when it is sold. They’d make more money sticking the cash in the bank and raking in interest, risk-free. Most family buyers buy without the intention of selling, because they’re thinking about the next generation, so capital profit rarely interests them because they have no plans to realise it. The last thing they want to do is sell their land, and there’s not point in realising the capital gain if you have to fork out even more money to buy a replacement property, anyway. You can’t eat capital gain; you need cash flow in the meantime, so the current values put on rural land are increasingly squeezing out family businesses. This would not be the case if food and fibre producers received more in their pockets in return for their primary produce; this would make the high land prices reasonable. But low wholesale prices for primary produce is an age-old problem – primary producers are ‘price takers not price makers’, and that doesn’t look like changing; middlemen will remain the ones to take minimum risk and receive maximum profit.

One other group of cattle station owners is worth a mention. These are the private buyers who are rapid-empire building. If one property after the other is added to the portfolio in relatively quick succession (over several years); almost invariably (unless they’ve won the European lottery), it is because their places border on to under supervised National Parks or half asleep neighbours with a lot of ‘wandering’ cleanskins; they’ve bought well developed, quality assets for good prices and asset stripped or at the very least neglected essential annual maintenance (forget about capital improvements completely). Or there’s been other dodginess involved. More often than not, it’s a combination of all of the above. Unfortunately, these owners can usually be spotted a mile away and people in the pastoral industry know exactly who they are, although the general community are often impressed because they think the properties are all owned outright rather than being mortgaged up to the eyeballs. There always seems to be several around on the horizon, but they tend to come and go – a lot of this rapid empire building is done on borrowed money, and the inevitable combination of high interest rates, low commodity prices and bad seasons usually brings the whole pack of cards down within 6 years or so. These rapid-empire builders are very detrimental to the industry because their spending can inflate property values while they run down good quality properties that others have spent decades building up. And without exception, they are appalling employers. While they do usually crash and burn, no mud ever seems to stick – almost none have ever received criminal convictions. I am constantly puzzled by this group of people. Very often they grew up in the bush, but they seem to have no genuine,deep love of the land, and the empire-building often seems to stem from some sort of inferiority complex – a desire to own more than anyone else simply for the sake of it. But at the same time they are usually very secretive, although some of their financial deals are so spectacular they are reported in the mainstream media.

Employment in the pastoral industry: When it comes to employment in the bush, all pastoral companies, whether publicly or privately owned, and whether large or small, have their own advantages and disadvantages. What appeals to one person won’t suit another. For example some people simply like to be able to tell others they worked on a very fashionable or famous property, while others couldn’t give a toss because they’re after a quality employer, an unusually friendly working environment or an extra good place to learn as much as possible. Anyone starting a career in the beef or wool industry is well advised to obtain as varied experience as possible – working for a range of different owners and in locations across northern Australia, both large and small operators, spending at least a year at each place, before figuring out who to settle in with for a longer stretch. This varied experience and widespread networking provides a solid foundation for a long term career. It’s the sort of experience that may be taken for granted at the time but could prove invaluable later in life. At the very least, it will provide a far more interesting bunch of memories than someone who just sat on the one place or who worked for just the one employer. Or someone who put in a brief appearance on a show pony place.

Please note that this original blog post was made on 1 August 2009.  Although this particular blog page won’t be kept up-to-date with the most recent sales information (this would be an unending and very time consuming job) it does have additional information added to it from time to time. If you have any additions or amendments to suggest, please let me know.

As they say, ‘truth is stranger than fiction’.

It would be great to have a comprehensive list of what the government requirements are on purchasing land in all countries.  For example what are the laws regarding foreign ownership of rural land in Britain, and Eastern and Western Europe?  In the Middle East?  In India, Indonesia, and all the Asian countries in-between?  These are all regions where private citizens, companies and governments have bought up tracts of Australian food producing land.  And presumably all if not most of these countries, at least keep detailed and current records of land owned by non-citizens.

I suspect a comprehensive list of foreign ownership laws in relation to rural land, in other countries, would show Australia is one of the least restricted on the planet.  Why do we give it away?

The Vestey family still own large cattle ranches in Venezuela, trading under the company name of ‘Agroflora’ and President Hugo Chavez has just announced that the Vestey family’s 290,000 hectares is to be taken over by the Venezuelan Government.  The Vestey family had been negotiating with the Venezuelan Government in regard to reparation for resumed land, and according to Hugo Chavez, negotiations broke down because the Vestey family insisted on payment in U.S. dollars rather than Venezuelan dollars.

The reasons given by President Chavez for the resumption of land, are related to improving social equity, food security and environmental management.  In recent years, a number of significant assets owned by other private companies have been seized by the Chavez government.

For more information on the Vestey land resumption in Venezuela, see William Hayes’ ‘Meat Trade News Daily’.

There is virtually no objective analysis and in-depth discussion of the figures in our mainstream media.  Nor discussion of the fact that the figures appear to be approximations, at best.  Rural organisations have pointed out the figures are not detailed enough to be of any real use and there is no regular recording of property owner citizenship details, so foreign ownership trends cannot be accurately identified.  And that there is no analysis of the size of the agricultural businesses concerned, so it is utterly pointless and meaningless for the ABS to state:  ’99% of Australian businesses are entirely owned by Australians’.  Oh yes, and just how many tiny hobby farm-type properties were lumped in with the multi-million dollar company-owned businesses?

And how has ownership been calculated when the land owner is a company, with both overseas and Australian shareholders?  This issue applies to some of Australia’s largest pastoral companies – for example, the AACo and Terra Firma.  It appears about as much accuracy as we get is a statement saying a certain percentage have some degree of foreign ownership.  It could be 10% foreign owned/90% Australian owned, or vice versa.

Regarding objective analysis of the figures.  I am astonished that a number of journalists and others believe these figures are no reason for concern.

The major factor that seems to be overlooked by all and sundry is a) we have very little good quality agricultural land, and b) if someone has, for example, a 10% stake in something that is not homogeneous throughout, it is imperative to analyse whether that 10% is of the very best quality, the worst quality, or a mixture.  Just as is the case with urban residential land purchased by overseas owners, I suspect analysis would show the majority (if not all) overseas owners have bought up slices of our very best quality (most valuable, scarcest etc) land.  In other words, for example, foreign ownership may only be 10% of all our agricultural land, but it could well be 80% of the top 10% quality land.

In the case of agricultural land ownership, I suspect a thorough analysis would reveal that it’s a case of quality being more significant than overall quantity.  Classic examples of ‘cherrypicking’ the very best - the ownership by Argentinean John Kahlbetzer’s Twynham Pastoral Co, of numerous blue-ribbon historic wool/cropping properties throughout the Murray-Darling river system in New South Wales.  And 7th Day Adventist ownership of the exceedingly valuable Kooba Station, at Darlington Point (south of Griffith, NSW).   In land area terms, a relative small percentage.  But if New South Wales farmland was graded into categories according to the levels of productivity (quality), it would show that a disturbingly significant percentage of the very best agricultural land available in NSW, is owned by people who are not Australian citizens.

For this reason, this ABS survey is virtually useless, and one is left with the impression that those responsible for running the survey wouldn’t know an arid 6″ variable rainfall plot flat out running 1 flea per hectare even in a good year, from in incredibly productive and intensely farmed river flat on the outskirts of Sydney’s southern suburbs.  Because they’ve lumped the two in together.

The fact that this appears not to have been addressed by anyone writing on the subject, smacks of either lazy journalism or simply a lack of understanding of Australian agriculture – or both.

Two of the basic figures provided in the ABS survey are of utmost concern.  One is the fact that 91% of Australian agricultural water entitlements are 100% Australian owned.  This means that 9% of our agricultural water entitlements are owned/part owned by people who do not live here.  That’s almost 1 gigalitre out of every 10, doesn’t belong completely to Australian citizens.  In a continent that is often described as the driest on the planet, with undeniably the most unreliable rainfall (to the great detriment of our agricultural productivity and rural living standards), that figure should be of great concern.  I don’t believe anyone other than Australian citizens should own Australian water rights.  We take our food and water security for granted at our peril.

The second issue of major concern is the level of overseas ownership in the Northern Territory, which is given as 24% of NT agricultural land as having ‘some level’ of overseas ownership. 

The ABS, in their infinite wisdom, have lumped together ‘sheep beef cattle and grain farming’ into the one category.  It is this category that has the highest level of foreign ownership.  Given that our cattle stations are the largest in the world, generally can run only cattle (no grain cropping, ever, and no sheep these days), and that most Territory agricultural land – where there is the highest level of overseas ownership – is used for running beef cattle; and there are plenty of regions that successfully run sheep but could never grow grain crops, creating a category that combines cattle, sheep and grain growing, for the whole of Australia,  is next to useless for anything much.

About the ownership of Australian agricultural water entitlements, the ABS report says: ”The Northern Territory reported no agricultural water entitlements for agricultural purposes being owned by businesses with any level of foreign ownership. ” Yet the ‘Beef cattle sheep and grain growing’ category had the highest level of Australian ownership.

The fact that a $231 million and above purchase is the point at which the Foreign Investment Review Board (FIRB) purchase approval is required, is a joke.  Are we stupid, or what?  As it stands today, buyers from other countries could at least in theory, buy up a whole state, piece by piece, and still not come under any scrutiny (let alone control) by government authorities.

Best of all, it appears the ABS report was based on a survey filled in by property managers or owners:

“The Australian Land and Water Ownership Survey (ALWOS) was a large survey, with a sample of 11,000 agricultural businesses which represented the Australian farming industry. The businesses reporting they were not fully Australian owned may have been either partially or entirely foreign owned and, as such the survey provides information about business, land and water entitlements by the extent of their foreign ownership.”

Well it must be completely accurate then, if the property owners/managers were the ones who provided the ownership details!  Surely we need a long term, Federal Government-run property ownership register?  So that the ABS doesn’t have to rely on self-filled out surveys filled out by people who may have a vested interest in answering in a particular way?

Consolidated Pastoral Company (CPC) is Australia’s second largest beef producing company, after the Australian Agricultural Company (AACo).  In 1983 Kerry Packer purchased Ashburton Pastoral Company and with the acquisition of other cattle stations, Ashburton Pastoral morphed into CPC in 1992.  UK-based investment companyTerra Firma bought CPC from the Packer family in April 2009,  several years after the death of Kerry Packer (December 2005).

Ashburton Pastoral Company was jointly owned by Ken Warriner and the late Peter Baillieu and Tony Chisholm.  Ashburton Pastoral Company owned three NT cattle stations – Newcastle Waters station (Elliott), Humbert River (Victoria River District) and Henbury (now RMWAH owned, near Alice Springs).   Prior to that, Ken Warriner had worked for Hugh McLachlan on  Kenmore Park (Alice Springs), for Tom Quilty on Springvale (East Kimberley, WA) and then as General Manager for Texas-based King Ranch, owner of Brunette Downs (NT), Mt House and Glenroy (West Kimberley, WA).

What Ken Warriner doesn’t know about cattle and the northern cattle industry, isn’t worth knowing.  And he has always been a busy bloke.  Roles have included Chairman of Consolidated Meat Group, GRM International (resource management), Chairman of Austrex (Australian Rural Exports Pty Ltd), Chairman of RTA (Road Trains of Australia) and Chairman of AFD (Australian Fuel Distributors).  Plus President of the NTCA (Northern Territory Cattleman’s Association) and the ACA (Asian Cattleman’s Association), as well as serving on the NFF (National Farmers Federation) National Executive.  Last year an old health issue resurfaced that took some beating off, however it appears Ken has only taken the foot off the pedal slightly.  

Mark Irwin comes from a Darling Downs farming family and is a qualified lawyer with a background in business management, and has previously worked for Graincorp, BHP and Asciano.

Bill Reid has interests in racehorses, alcohol retailing, motels and other projects in addition to cattle stations.  The Reid Industry Group includes:  Reid Rural (specially designed steel rails for cattleyards and feedlots), Bill Reid Racing Pty Ltd, Reid Liquor and Pegunny Pastoral Company.  Hotels owned/still owned include the hotel at Banana (the first purchased), Sun Palms (Rockhampton), Capricorn Tavern (Yeppoon), Mayfair Tavern (Emerald), Waverley Hotel (Charters Towers) and bottleshops as far west as Winton.  

Bill’s father Gordon Reid worked as a well respected Queensland stock and station agent who commenced his career when a handshake sealed a deal.  Gordon worked for Primaries (Primac) for many years and had a longstanding association with the Australian Agricultural Company (AACo), often visiting AACo properties on cattle buying trips.   (The Queensland Primary Producers Association Co-operative was formed in 1920 and commonly referred to as ‘Primaries’.  ‘Primaries’ amalgamated with Mactaggarts Primary Producer’s Association several decades ago and renamed ‘Primac’.  Elders took over Primac in 1998 and in Queensland many branches trade under the name Primac Elders.)   

Gordon Reid bought Thornton Station north of Muttaburra (between Longreach and Hughenden) in 1962 while working for Primaries at Longreach, and latter added nearby properties Tower Hill, Culloden and Nargon.   Together these holdings measured around 170,000 acres.   These Muttaburra sheep/cattle properties were put on the market in March 2003.  Gordon Reid also bought into a partnership owning Pegunny Station (west of Moura) in the early 1960s, eventually buying out the other part-owners and adding neighbouring properties Anglestone and Roundstone.   These properties are still owned by the Reid family, and Gordon Reid lives in Rockhampton.

Comely Station is run in conjunction with neighbouring Mapala.  The properties are located south of Bauhinia (between Rolleston & Moura in central Queensland), and the 23,000 ha has an estimated carrying capacity of 12,000 head.  The CPC purchase of Comely/Mapala stations makes good geographic sense because the properties are a handy distance from a selection of coastal abattoirs, and in relative terms, not far from CPC-owned Allawah Station (Brahman stud) at Banana.

“…. the rejuvenation would be “a slow process, since most recovery relies on big rainfall events.  I would expect in a while, and after some good rains, you’d see fields full of daisies in winter and high grass in the summer”. 

I think Ashley needs to go and read some of the dairies written by explorers, the first white people to travel through inland Australia.  All the photos I’ve seen of Henbury show it looking right now as good as it probably has for a couple of centuries – well before whities arrived in this area with cows.

There’s more comments on ’removal of 17,000 cattle by year’s end, and thus significant emissions of methane gas.’ and “The project managers will then orchestrate a campaign to weed out introduced plants that have choked the propagation of native, carbon-storing species’ (only native plants store carbon?  Interesting view.) Plus:  ’New efforts will be made to cull the population of feral camels. Finally the company will manage fires on the property.’   Can anyone tell me whether anyone has succeeded in eradicating camels from the Simpson Desert yet?  I thought not.  And ask National Park neighbours – in any state - what they think of Federal Government weed control programmes on park land.  Henburywill be different?  Why, are taxpayers going to have to cough up more?  As for the fire comment – does this mean they are going to stop fires altogether, patch burn at the end of the wet season, or what, exactly?  What will be different to what the previous owners did, in relation to fire and vegetation management?  It is notable that all the Elders advertising I’ve seen in relation to Henbury Station, has stated clearly, what a well managed property is has been.

$9.1 million of taxpayer’s money has gone into the purchasing of Henbury Station and who knows how much taxpayers will be footing the bill for future management and research.  On just this one station.  How much good would $9.1 million have done, plus the rest that will inevitably be spent in future, if spread around on a number of other properties or parks – for weed and feral animal control.

RMWAH’s press release quotes R.M. Williams Agricultural Holdings Managing Director David Pears as saying:  “We’re in the business of sustainable agriculture and we see an exciting opportunity in carbon sequestration.  By actively managing fire, water, weeds and feral animals on this former pastoral property we’ll encourage natural revegetation, removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and storing carbon in the soil and native plants. We’ll be creating sustainable habitat and enhancing biodiversity.”  Is David suggesting that former owners/managers were not ‘managing fire, water, weeds and feral animals’?  Isn’t that exactly what any cattle station manager does on a daily basis?  Or is David suggesting that cattle station managers are not as competent as RMWAH managers, who are the only ‘sustainable agriculture’ model?

You know the absolutely funniest part?  I wonder how much fossil fuel will be burnt up ferrying purchasers, politicians, researchers, idle visitors and other hangers-on to this part of central Australia, either via Alice Springs airport or direct charter flights - on endless trips to and from Canberra, Sydney and Melbourne.  My bet is it will be truckloads.  But that’s ok, it won’t hurt the earth’s atmosphere one bit, because Henbury is suddenly, after all these years, growing fields of daisies.  Those involved will all sleep soundly at night because hey, they’re saving the planet.

Why don’t we just turn all the land outside of Sydney, Melbourne and Canberra into one great big national park owned and run by the Federal Government and/or big investment companies, as clearly they believe their efforts are second to none when it comes to land management. 

I’m all for the preservation of Australia’s native plants and animals (as a read of the blog topics, over the years, attest).  But this preservation should begin in cities, where the greatest environmental destruction has occurred.  In cities large and small, weeds and introduced animals flourish and native plants and animals are scarce.  When it comes to rural land, the most efficient way to ensure the preservation of native plants and animals, and sustainable, environmentally responsible agriculture, is to encourage family property ownership via rebates and tax incentives etc.  This is because, believe it or not, all rural families have the intention of passing the land on to the next generation, so are naturally thinking long-term, constantly.  They DO NOT damage the land they are in charge of.  More scrutiny than is currently the case should be applied to ownership of leasehold land by large companies (whether families & investment companies) because investors/extended family members apply constant pressure for short-term dividends, which always has the potential to be environmentally detrimental.  At present leasehold land management by government departments gets a big FAIL because while the vast majority of pastoral leasehold landowners do the right thing, right now there are 3 people in the bush, in charge of very large tracts of land, that should not be allowed to own or run anything other than a high-rise apartment.  Everyone in the bush knows who they are, yet nothing is done to reign in their poor land management by those in charge of overseeing leasehold land management.

Henbury Station joins the northern NT cattle stations purchased earlier by RMWAH, La Belle Downs and Welltree, with a combined acreage of 99,400 hectares and an estimated carrying capacity of 30,000 head.  RMWAH also owns the Mirage Plains cropping and grazing aggregation on the Warrego River south of Cunnamulla (SW Qld) and Inglewood farms, a large-scale organic poultry enterprise in SE Qld.

An unusually varied and widely spread property portfolio.

Additional information, 26 July 2011:

Today an ABC report mentions the sale of Henbury Station to RMWAH and states that two thirds of the $13 million purchase price is being paid by the Federal Government - funding for a ‘National Reserve’ received under the ‘Caring For Our Country’ Scheme (very Gillard/Rudd-sounding, isn’t it.)  It is stated the 17,000 head of cattle (there were 10,000 listed when it was up for sale a couple of years ago) will be removed by December 2011 and the property ‘revegetated’, but it’s not clear what this means exactly.  While I have not been to Henbury station I doubt very much that it has ever been cleared, in fact it is probably a typical central Australian property – some areas of  scrubby trees (hardy species such as gidyea and desert oaks) and native vegetation that even in great seasons is not exactly profuse.   So what exactly would ‘revegetation’ mean?  Planting spinifex or acres of bluegums?    More puzzling and alarming is the statement:  “The project is being touted as a pilot that could lead to other farms across the nation being similarly converted.”  Converted to what?  De-populated regions running feral camels instead of domesticated species destined to feed people?  Converted to ’parks’ whose chief aim is to help frequent flier greens sleep well at night because they ticked the ‘carbon offset’ box when booking their flight online, while tiny struggling communities shrink even further?

It has to be said.  Without any information to the contrary, the whole thing has the wiff of fashionable and speculative band-wagon jumping.

The R.M. William’s Ag website states that there is an aim to build a conservation corridor between NT national parks and mention is made of the proximity of La Belle Downs and Welltree to other national parks, such as Litchfield.  Given that the Territory would have the most intact biodiversity out of any state or territory in Australia due to the relatively low population (less acres of urban sprawl involving acres of cement and lawns across our narrow but biodiverse coastal fringe) relative lack of farming (as in crop growing) and predominance of extensive grazing (in harmony with native plants and animals), it is unfortunate that RMWAH has chosen the Northern Territory for what would be a great idea, elsewhere.  For example, Far North Queensland’s wet tropics region would be an infinitely more worthy cause for the building of a solid conservation corridor given the huge biodiversity contained within a relatively tiny and increasingly fragmented ecosystem.  Rainforest regions are in real danger in future of being ‘loved to death’ - under increasing pressure due to urban encroachment (Mission Beach is a classic example of environmental vandalism), high voltage powerlines cutting swathes through narrow connecting corridors of rainforest, burgeoning weed incursions (especially problematic after cyclone Larry then Yasi) and the agriculture that exists in Queensland’s wet tropics is mostly high-density cropping – monocultures that involve the clearing of the majority of native trees and other plants (i.e. the eviction of virtually all native wildlife, by necessity).  Whereas the Northern Territory already has massive areas set aside as national parks, and millions of additional sparsely populated hectares that are not used to run domesticated animals. 

Late this afternoon a new page appeared on the ‘Henbury Conservation Project’ on the The Department of  Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population & Communities (yes, the title is that long) website.  Just like the academic spoutings on the sanctimonious ‘saving’ of Cravens Peak station in south western Queensland by ’Bush Heritage’, the Federal Government DSEWPC waxes lyrical about the fabulous biodiversity on Henbury station then proceeds to say how great it is that it will now be conserved and the wildlife saved.

Pastoral settlement on Henbury Station began in 1875.  The DSEWPC even states that ‘ 70% of the huge property remains largely in its natural condition’.   If running domesticated livestock on Henbury for more than a century ruined the environment, then clearly there would be nothing left to ‘save’ by now?

The DSEWPC website also states:

“R.M.Williams Agricultural Holdings will manage Henbury to enhance carbon sequestration. With cattle removed, the company will actively manage fire, water, weeds and feral animals to encourage natural revegetation. The process of natural revegetation will remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, storing carbon in the soil and native plants.

The company plans to sequestrate up to 1.5 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions per year for the next 10-15 years. The aim is to establish a model for generating biodiverse carbon credits to fund ongoing conservation management and to generate new sustainable income streams.”

I can’t think of anything to say to that, I’m speechless.  All I can think of is the story of the Emperor’s New Clothes.  The DSEWPC website even mentions offsetting carbon credits by ticking a box when booking airline travel (all because there’s a few more cotton bushes growing in central Australia).  It’s utter, utter madness, the whole scheme has been dreamt up by city-based investors and investment companies; brokers and futures traders etc, and promoted by an out-of-control federal government that the majority of Australians didn’t vote for.  Just as we can’t eat coal, we can’t eat carbon credits either.

A classic example of an article well worth reading concerns  LDS Church ownership of rural land in Brazil.  It’s not the only instance of controversy regarding rural land ownership by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (LDS)/Mormon church.  For example, the protest by potato farmers at Burley, Idaho in the U.S. Farm Weekly, raises questions about the impact of corporate ownership on local farmers, and whether church ownership is really much different to ownership by any other large corporation, whose sole focus is maximising profitability rather than welfare of local residents. 

The LDS Church is based in Salt Lake City, Utah.  The LDS organisation that owns rural land is called AgReserves, and it operates in Australia as AgReserves Australia Limited.  It operates as a charity (presumably tax free, yet without having any obligations regarding reporting where and how the profits have been spent).  The worldwide assets owned by the LDS/Mormon Church run to billions of dollars.  AgReserves Australia owns one of the most valuable farms in NSW,  Kooba Station at Darlington Point (just south of Griffith).