In this week’s property round-up with Kylie Dulhunty: Elders announces agreement to sell Killara Feedlot; extreme weather reshapes farmland buyer risk as prices hold firm, and we examine the Australian almond sector as it heats up.
Elders will sell its Killara Feedlot for about $195.8 million in a major transaction in the Australian beef production sector.
This morning Elders announced it had entered into an agreement to sell 100% of its shares in the feedlot to the Australian Meat Group (AMG).
Killara operates as an integrated grain-fed and grass-fed beef production facility in the Liverpool Plains region of NSW.
The operation has a combined annual throughput of about 62,000 head of cattle and sits on 1,402ha of freehold land, making it a significant asset within Elders’ broader products and services portfolio.
Elders Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer Mark Allison said the decision reflected both strategic positioning and future growth opportunities for the business.
“Killara has long been a successful and valuable part of Elders’ Products and Services Portfolio,” he said.
“We feel for Killara to continue to grow and develop as a bluechip operation, it is appropriate for it to move to a more natural owner, and we have found this in AMG.
“The sale at this time supports our value creation strategy for Elders’ shareholders.
“We thank Killara management and its employees for their contribution to Elders.”
The proposed sale remains subject to approval from both the Foreign Investment Review Board and the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission.
Pending successful approvals, Elders expects the transaction to complete before June 30.
AMG Managing Director Gilbert Cabral said the acquisition aligned with the company’s growth strategy and existing relationship with the operation.
“We have a long-standing relationship with Killara and are impressed by the quality of the business and its people,” he said.
“Killara will enhance our ability to service our customers with the highest quality Australian beef.
“Elders has been an extraordinary custodian of Killara and AMG looks forward to supporting its continued success.”
According to the Elders’ website, Killara Feedlot is located near Quirindi and has been operated as a licensed 20,000-head beef cattle feedlot focused on Angus and Wagyu feeding programs ranging from 70 to more than 150 days.
The feedlot also owned/leased an adjacent 1,300ha of both irrigated and dry-farming country, which produced feed for the feedlot, including hay and corn silage.
As part of this infrastructure was a 13,500-head-per-year grass-finishing operation that supplied Certified Grassfed beef to both domestic and export programs.
As part of the operation, a 500-kilowatt solar farm helped minimise energy costs.
According to the AMG website, the group was founded by Joe Catalfamo and Gilbert Cabral in 2013 with the vision to “build a state-of-the-art meat processing infrastructure that produces the highest quality meat products for local and international markets”.
Elders said it was being advised by Kidder Williams Limited as exclusive financial adviser and Laity Morrow as legal adviser in relation to the sale.
Australia’s farmland market entered 2026 on solid footing after a remarkable decade of growth, but a string of extreme weather events and shifting economic conditions are beginning to reshape how buyers assess risk, particularly across the rural, agribusiness and grazing sectors.
Ray White Group Head of Research Vanessa Rader said national farmland prices finished 2025 at a median $10,979 per hectare, capping “a remarkable 15-year journey that has seen values nearly triple since 2010.”
However, she warned that the headline figure masked a rapidly changing landscape where climate volatility and regional conditions are increasingly driving decision-making.
The strongest gains last year were recorded in Western Australia, where median values climbed to $9,635 per hectare, and Queensland, which posted annual growth of 10.6 per cent amid improved livestock prices and favourable seasonal conditions.
Transaction volumes, however, told a more cautious story.
Ms Rader said the outlook for 2026 had become more complex, particularly after the Reserve Bank reversed its earlier easing cycle and lifted rates in February.
“The reversal in interest rate expectations adds another layer of complexity to investment decisions,” she said, noting that many buyers had been banking on continued relief to support expansion plans.
But beyond economics, climate risk is emerging as a defining factor for buyer confidence.
“The extreme weather events in early 2026, including devastating bushfires in Victoria that recorded temperatures and catastrophic flooding in northern Queensland resulting in stock losses potentially exceeding 100,000 head, serve as stark reminders of the climate risks facing Australian agriculture,” Ms Rader said.
She noted that widespread infrastructure damage, including lost fences, gates and roads, had reinforced the vulnerability of farm businesses and “may influence buyer risk assessments moving forward”.
Seasonal conditions remain pivotal.
Bureau of Meteorology forecasts are signalling above-median temperatures nationwide, with uncertain rainfall outlooks and the potential for soil moisture depletion, particularly as growers head into winter crop planning.
Despite these pressures, Ms Rader said farmland’s long-term performance remained strong, but market dynamics were shifting.
“The days of uniform national growth may be behind us,” she said, describing a more nuanced environment where “location, land type, production capability, and timing matter more than ever”.
For buyers and investors, that means due diligence increasingly extends beyond yields and commodity prices to include resilience, water security and exposure to extreme weather in what is becoming a more selectively priced rural market.
Yarrum Agriculture's Almond Aggregation has returned to market. Pic: Supplied
Australia’s almond industry is entering a new phase of investment and consolidation, with large-scale orchard portfolios changing hands, major institutional assets hitting the market and analysts forecasting sustained demand growth beyond 2030.
A string of high-value transactions and listings across Victoria and New South Wales signals continued confidence in the sector as investors seek scale, water security and yield potential, while new market research from Rabobank points to a strong long-term outlook driven by replanting programs, rising global demand and constrained supply from key competitors.
London-based investor Cibus Capital has launched a campaign to sell its Amaretto Almonds venture, a major 1000ha portfolio spanning Victoria and NSW and capable of producing about 3.7 million kilograms of almonds annually.
The portfolio includes a 430ha orchard at Lake Powell in north-west Victoria and the 570ha Noraleigh holding near Tooleybuc in the NSW Riverina, together backed by significant water entitlements.
Major consultancy PwC has been appointed to advise on the sale, with market expectations understood to be around $150 million including water rights.
Cibus acquired the Lake Powell asset in 2017 as its first Australian farmland investment before expanding two years later with Noraleigh.
The orchards feature a mix of varieties including Non-Pariel, Price, Carmel and Monterey, alongside a trial orchard designed to test new planting configurations.
Leased and permanent water rights account for about 66 per cent of the enterprise’s total water requirements, highlighting the growing emphasis investors place on secure irrigation supply.
In another significant deal, Brisbane-based Laguna Bay quietly acquired the Almas almond portfolio via an off-market transaction worth more than $100 million, including Murray–Darling Basin water entitlements.
The portfolio comprises about 950ha across three orchards near Robinvale in Victoria’s north-west, including a 355ha holding at Boundary Bend and two adjoining properties at Bannerton.
Originally established two decades ago by the Fremder, Yeo and Leonard families, including former Select Harvests directors Max Fremder and Curt Leonard, the aggregation demonstrates ongoing institutional interest in mature, scaled almond assets offering immediate production capacity.
Meanwhile, the 635ha Yarrum Agriculture Almond Aggregation in Victoria’s Sunraysia region has returned to market with revised price guidance of $19.5 million to $21 million, reflecting renewed buyer appetite for near full-production horticulture assets.
The aggregation, located at Red Cliffs south of Mildura, includes Wilga Road Farm and Ballinger Farm with a combined 317ha planted in 2021 and 2022.
The campaign is being managed by CBRE Agribusiness agents Angus Bills, Matt Childs and John Harrison via expressions of interest closing April 2, 2026.
Mr Bills said the orchard had been developed to a high standard and was well positioned for incoming investors.
“The Yarrum Agriculture Almond Aggregation has been developed to the highest standard and is on track to reach full production in the next two to three years, allowing the incoming purchaser to capture premium yields for the next 15 years,” he said.
“The aggregation features high quality irrigation and fertigation systems whilst being set up on a single shift, fully automated irrigation system.”
The property features institutional-grade infrastructure including gravity-fed Lower Murray supply water, storage dams totalling 240ML and a 6,529ML annual use limit, together with variable speed pumps and fertiliser systems.
Mr Bills said market interest was expected to come from both large operators and corporate capital.
“We’re expecting interest from current industry participants seeking to increase their scale or geographic diversity and corporate groups, especially given the expected increase in commodity pricing from 2025 to 2026 of approximately 30–35%,” he said.
“Forecasted yields for the 2026 crop are expected to be in excess of 2 tonnes per hectare.”
While transactions accelerate, research from Rabobank suggests the broader sector is poised for long-term expansion.
In its Australian Almond Outlook: Replanting for growth beyond 2030, which was released in December, RaboResearch said the industry was entering a pivotal transition phase as ageing orchards were renewed and new developments emerged.
RaboResearch analyst Pia Piggott said the next five years would see the first large-scale replanting cycle, with many of the earliest orchards planted between 2001 and 2005 approaching the end of their productive life.
“This represents approximately 16 per cent of the total area of Australian almonds in 2024, which will require replanting over the next five years,” she said.
Ms Piggott said strong fundamentals were supporting future expansion.
“And we expect to see further orchard developments as almonds will likely continue to be one of the highest-value use cases for water in the southern Murray Darling Basin,” she said.
Rabobank expects total planted area to increase by between 5,000 and 10,000ha by 2030, potentially lifting national almond supply to around 200,000 tonnes kernel weight equivalent from 2030 onward.
The report also highlighted improving global market conditions, with tightening stock levels pushing average almond prices higher for a third consecutive year.
China’s tariffs on US almonds have strengthened Australia’s competitiveness, helping push exports to China to 78.5 million kilograms in 2024/25, worth more than $700 million.
“These tariffs have supported revenue growth for Australian almond exports,” Ms Piggott said.
The sector’s momentum is also underpinned by expanding export markets and shifting consumer preferences toward healthier, protein-rich foods, which are trends likely to support long-term demand for Australian almonds.
Kylie Dulhunty is a journalist with more than 20 years experience covering everything from court to health. Today, Kylie loves nothing more than turning market trends, industry insights and epic property sales - residential, rural and commercial into captivating stories.