The WALT Portfolio of First Australian Farmland Pty Ltd is to soon hit the market in a rare opportunity to acquire highly sought after farm land.
The 5595 hectare aggregation of properties is in the coveted Great Southern agricultural region.
They are located in the South Stirling and Green Range districts about 65 kilometres from the port city of Albany with access and frontage to the South Coast Highway in multiple locations.
The high rainfall zone averages more than 600 millimetres of rainfall annually, making it well suited to canola and cereal cropping, sheep and cattle production and agroforestry.
Consisting of six semi-contiguous freehold land titles, there is about 12km between the three western titles and three eastern titles.
The properties benefit from their close proximity to the coast and enjoy a very mild climate recognised for reliable rainfall as well as having very few frost events, and days of heat stress.
The demand for quality aggregations within the Great Southern region and along WA's south coast remains historically strong with large-scale family and institutional investors seeking to increase their exposure to reliable production zones.
The region is relatively tightly held with a number of prominent farming families in close proximity, making the sale a rare opportunity.
It is unique for an aggregation of this scale to be offered for sale and interest from corporate farming groups is also anticipated.
"Excluding the current owners and Blue Gum companies, there has been limited corporate farming activity in the immediate area, but it is starting to become more widely recognised as a region suited to high production cropping, getting the attention of corporate farming entities and farmers from other regions looking to expand and/or relocate," said Elders Real Estate agent Simon Cheetham.
"A lot of local farmers have grown really substantial businesses in their own right, highlighting the reliability and productivity of this region.
"It's an area which has flown under the radar for a long time, partly because it is often smaller farms which are offered for sale.
"A lot of corporate interest typically had focused on Esperance and Geraldton port zones, over the past decade however the Albany port zone has received increased buyer interest in recent years," he said.
Mr Cheetham said a number of properties have sold in the past 12 months achieving relatively high prices.
There has been significant investment made in farm infrastructure, with a hub of modern improvements concentrated at 335 Drawbin Road that include a large near new shed incorporating machinery storage, chemical storage and workshop, a large fertiliser and grain storage shed as well as on-site office and grain silos.
All properties within the aggregation are well fenced and have a good complement of sheep handling facilities, including modern steel yards and confinement feeding facilities.
The 2024 seeding program has commenced and will include barley, canola and wheat being sown by the vendor, eventually forming part of the sale.
About 3700ha of crop is expected to be sown this year.
In recent years, the owners have sown triticale, vetch, serradella and clover varieties in addition to cereals.
Suited to livestock production also, the owners have run up to 8000 head of sheep across the properties since 2017.
There are two modest homes included in the aggregation in close proximity to Wellstead and South Stirling Primary Schools.
Mr Cheetham said there were numerous appealing sites to build a home over the aggregation, many with views of the Stirlings and close to the coast.
Water is supplied via dams, bores and rainwater tanks.
The three available bores are equipped with solar panels and a pump, while four large rainwater tanks can hold up to 275,000 litres.
Additional concrete and poly tanks are located over the properties also.
The WALT Portfolio is offered for genuine sale via expressions of interest closing on Tuesday, May 28.
Expressions of interest are to include consideration given to crops sown.