customised-farm-management

CFM's Matt Clearwater Attends Pistachio Growers Association Event

Sun, 29 Jun 2025 05:28:25 GMT

CFM's Matt Clearwater Attends Pistachio Growers Association Event

Source: The Land, 2018

CFM’s Matt Clearwater recently sat on a grower panel for the Pistachio Growers Association, where he joined other industry leaders to discuss key issues including pest and disease management, irrigation strategies, and the rise of emerging production regions.

Since 2015, Australia’s pistachio industry has doubled its bearing orchard area to around 1,500 hectares, with another 1,500 hectares recently planted and yet to reach maturity. Nationally, there are now about 60 pistachio growers, with production forecast to hit 14,000 tonnes by 2030. To support this growth, a new hulling plant was commissioned this season to handle future volumes.

Domestic demand has grown steadily from 3,500 tonnes to 5,000 tonnes over the past decade, though much of this is still met through imports. As Australian production begins to outpace local consumption, the industry is preparing to explore new export opportunities.

Sarah Parkes Speaks at the 2024 CSD Mastering Cotton Forum

Mon, 28 Oct 2024 03:03:59 GMT

Sarah Parkes Speaks at the 2024 CSD Mastering Cotton Forum

Article by Customised Farm Management

At the 2024 CSD Mastering Cotton Forum, Sarah Parkes, agronomist at Customised Farm Management, offered practical insights on achieving successful cotton establishment through careful use of QR code data on seed bags. She highlighted how this information, especially cool germination data, plays a significant role in their seeding strategy. With each bag's QR code offering unique seed details, she emphasised how critical it is to analyse and organise seed stock effectively to maximise results during planting:

"We recorded all of our seed delivered and their respective AUSLOT information. In the south we focus mainly on cool germ... cold germination is an indication of seed vigour and should set our timing."

By strategically placing seed with higher cold germination at the front of the shed, it allows the strongest, most vigorous seeds to be planted first during more challenging conditions. This approach allows us to reduce risk and achieve the best possible outcomes even in difficult weather:

"During our most trying conditions at the start of the planting window, we would have our most vigorous strongest seed in the ground and go from there as planting progresses."

Sarah also notes the challenging 2022-23 planting season in the Riverina, highlighting the importance of preparation for uncontrollable factors like weather and soil temperature changes.

In addition to her insights on QR code usage, Sarah shared exciting early results from a recent variety trial aimed at producing high-quality long staple cotton—a potential game-changer for market demand. As consumer interest shifts toward sustainability and yarn quality, CFM has been working to meet these expectations by exploring longer staple varieties, typically associated with softer, finer cotton.

"Finer stronger cotton can be spun into a finer yarn count... Finer yarn counts usually spun from pima cotton, but with no pima cotton varieties commercially available in Australia, our aim is to grow the high quality upland cotton we do grow to the longest staple length possible."

This trial compared an older, long staple variety against current XtendFlex varieties, revealing both trade-offs and potential gains. While the long staple variety yielded about 16% less, it showed significant quality improvements, boasting a 6% increase in length and a 7% boost in fibre strength.

"The longer the length, the softer the feel, making long staple cotton ideal for more high quality products."

With further spinning trials underway, Sarah looks forward to exploring how these quality gains can meet specific market demands and potentially attract a premium.

You can listen to the full episode below.

Richard Malone talks Carbon on the AgTech Finder Podcast

Thu, 22 Aug 2024 10:10:58 GMT

Richard Malone Talks Carbon on the AgTech Finder Podcast

Article by Customised Farm Management

CFM's Richard Malone recently spoke to Olivia from AgTech Finder for their podcast on the use of Precision Ag services in relation to soil carbon opportunities. See the full interview below.

Olivia: Were now joined by Richard Malone from Customised Farm Management, who’s been using Precision Ag services across the group’s properties. Richard tells us about the potential opportunities he believes can be found in measuring and improving soil carbon, particularly in their horticultural developments.

Can you start by telling me more about CFM and yourself?

Richard: We’re a rural asset company with 11 farms under management from the Douglas-Daly region in the northern territory to the Riverina region. I’m based in Griffith, and our head office is in Moree, and I’ve been with customised farm management since 2016. Originally, I started my career as an agronomist and based down in Griffith at the time I was introduced to CFM.

Fantastic. So how have you used Precision Ag services? And why did you want to incorporate this into the operations?

Sure, I guess coming from an agronomic background, we’d been involved with Precision Ag for decades now and most of the assets we manage are broadacre focused so your typical cotton, wheat, cereals, oilseed rotations combined with some livestock and more recently horticultural as well, so in the broadacre space I guess you’d say we’ve been in the Precision Ag sphere for a long time now.

We took some of that knowledge from what we were doing in the broadacre so your typical base level NDVI maps and also the soil maps we were using in the cotton industry that would give you a representation of EM soil, and you overload that with some elevation and directional slope information that you can pull out of the tractors quite simply these days. It gave us confidence in our irrigation management of those crops and allowed us to really focus in on the average soil type for those fields. So, we were very much managing the majority of the crop on a field-by-field basis.

And did that change your irrigation decisions? Or the decisions on what you were putting out onto the paddock?

Yeah, it certainly did Olivia, it allowed us to confidently stretch irrigation deficits in soil types that allowed us to do so. It also allowed us to recognise that we needed to shorten up some of those deficits over time, and I guess use each millimetre of water that we had available more reliably in the system. Particularly in the drought years that became very important, water prices were almost prohibitive to grow any broadacre irrigation crops so the resources that we had available, we had to make sure we stretched it to its absolute maximum.

We’re also talking about soil carbon today, why is a soil carbon baseline something that you were looking at?

When we undertake any development as a management group, we do a really detailed soil reconnaissance survey. So that gives us a great understanding of the variability within the landscape were operating in. It also identifies more precisely the areas to target for a development and from a development perspective there’s big opportunity I believe in the carbon space because you’re effectively converting what would be traditionally dryland cereal production or semi irrigated cereal production country, in this situation to irrigated agriculture. And I think as farmers, that’s where we have an opportunity in the carbon space to make the most rapid change.

That’s interesting, and is that just because of going from the broadacre space to the horticultural space there’s more opportunity there for inputs into your soil or just the way you would manage them is more beneficial for increasing carbon, how’s that playing out?

Yeah, it is. In a Horticultural development for example, you have an enormous biomass production in a short period of time so the growth of the trees the plant biomass both above and below ground is quite significant so you’re adopting a fair bit of change to that environment in a short time with the addition of irrigation. But even going back prior to the development piece, you are adding things like cow manure, organic manure (chicken litter) and things like that on the development phase as well, all at very significant rates that would ultimately take you decades to achieve with cereal production on the same piece of dirt.

We understand that potentially this carbon space can provide marketing opportunities, but the main purpose were in interested in the space was to prove productivity of the assets under management as well.

So the dual purpose was to improve the productivity but also potentially one day provide market access.

It became more apparent, as a management company to really stand behind integral data. And so without the ability to have precision sampling techniques and understanding soil diversity within a landscape, you lose that integrity. So it is pivotal from our perspective that you need precision data to have integrity behind the data that you’re interpreting.

So would you say that carbon is one element of many when it comes to soil health and soil composition that you were looking at for overall production but then obviously it’s very handy to know where your soil carbon is at so you’ve got that idea if there were opportunities in the future when it came to accessing that market, would that be an accurate summary?

Yeah it is. And soil carbon as you pointed out is a small piece of a much larger puzzle for us in the precision ag space. We initially started sampling our Almond Orchards for example. And were talking orchards that were developed in the last 5 years so very fresh and immature in a sense to what you would consider a really productive orchard. I guess it was through that process that we also capture things like bulk density and also soil organic carbon in the process as well because it’s a bit of a free kick at the moment if you’re capturing that information when the trees are very juvenile.

So it’s very surprising, our expectations within an orchard are we might be able to improve soil organic carbon by about 0.1% per year. In fact, our first set of results have more than doubled that. We’re able to show that as an average across the sites within that orchard, 10 of the 12 locations tested were able to show an increase in soil organic carbon that increase was an average of about 0.2% so double what we expected it may be.

You look at that from a carbon perspective, that’s 5,400 tonnes of carbon dioxide sequested into the soil over that period, and at $60 per carbon credit value today it would be somewhere around $950 per hectare of additional opportunity for the orchard.

And you put that in context of the operating cost of the orchard, something like that would cover off about 30% of our annual overheads of operating that orchard.

So that’s a significant interest you could say. And it’s the sort of thing were really starting to hone into. And precision ag is really the only accurate way we can continue to accurately assess whether were improving or building organic carbon levels or there maintain a stable rate, or they’re in fact declining.

So as I’ve alluded to before, it’s very much a new space for us but the numbers are certainly something to get excited about in my view.

Now you try and get an understanding of what that means to an international customer or even a supermarket, where you can say that our soil organic carbon change has been accurately this over time, but we can also calculate what our emissions are on an annual basis as well. So, we can then enter the discussion about what is your carbon footprint across each kilo of almonds produced or each tonne of citrus produced.

So that’s the direction where heading as a business and as a management group in the horticultural space that we don’t think many people are operating in at this point in time.

Absolutely. Well its interesting because the independent baseline service that Precision Ag offer from my understanding you would have to get new baselines if you were to join a carbon program and start selling your carbon. But I can see that for a company it would be very useful to know what that is for reporting factors to stakeholders and then to the market potentially, would be in itself a big value and then obviously you’re having a better understanding of what value might be there if you decide to go down that road of selling carbon credits.

Yeah you’re right Olivia. A fortunate thing within our business is we get to talk to multiple stakeholders, some which that are involved in our business are actually foreign (international) owners, so they come from European and American backgrounds. Where I guess you would say the conversations around reduction in carbon emissions are much more topical on a daily basis than where they’ve been in Australia previously so you talk to those clients and stakeholders you get a quick understanding that they also are interested in where the opportunities potentially can take them.

But also, as importantly in their mind having a social accountability you could say for the production, they’re undertaking on the farms they own.

We also get to talk to likes of Woolworth’s, and the guys that buy for Woolworths, Coles Aldi and any major supermarket chains and it is becoming part of the conversation now with marketing fruit particularly, but also nuts and other commodities in the future.

So it would be remised not to be operating in that space at this point in time.

You can listen to the full episode below.

Katherine Cotton Gin opening marks a milestone for Northern Territory agriculture

Mon, 22 Jan 2024 00:11:34 GMT

Katherine Cotton Gin opening marks a milestone for Northern Territory agriculture

Article by Cotton Australia

In a significant development for Northern Territory agriculture, the Katherine Cotton Gin marked its official opening with a ceremony attended by over 150 people. The gin, set to start operations soon, is expected to play a key role in advancing the region's cotton industry.

The idea to reintroduce cotton farming to the territory came from an interest exchange between David and Bruce Connolly, who were inspired by cotton growing in their live export yard and the need for cotton seed as cattle feed.

The gin's opening was officiated by Alan Meyers, Chair of Tipperary Group, who thanked attendees for their support and emphasized the positive outlook for the enterprise and the local cotton industry.

The gin, capable of processing between 150,000 and 200,000 bales yearly, signifies new opportunities for the region, taking advantage of the Top End's heavy rain during the wet season to produce rain grown cotton.

David Connolly, General Manager of Tipperary, praised Myers for his commitment to the project. With 90 cotton growers planting for 2024, the gin is expected to be a hub of activity for years to come.

Katherine Cotton Gin Opening

Top 10 defining cropping property sales of 2022

Thu, 12 Jan 2023 06:26:18 GMT

Blackbull Station sold to agricultural investment fund with plans to expand dryland cotton

Published by By Emma Alsop and Linda Rowley via AgProperty Central on 11/01/2023

AS ANOTHER year begins, Grain Central looks back at the 10 most notable property sales for 2022 and if these transactions can give the industry any clues what this year will bring for the market.

Unsurprisingly, irrigated, rare and large-scale properties dominated sales at the pricier end of the market.

Corporate buyers were still a major player in this category, with Macquarie Asset Management (MAM) making some major purchases in 2022.

However, larger family operators also made their mark, with agents noticing a marked increase in demand from these buyers.

Families lead 2022 acquisitions

Elders general manager Mark Barber said family farms were the strongest competitors in the agriculture land market.

“The rationale for this seems to be twofold – growing their business to continue to achieve economies of scale, and the relative security and financial performance of farmland compared to other sectors of the economy at present,” Mr Barber said.

JLL Agribusiness national director of valuations and advisory Will Gurry said low interest rates for most of 2022 supported this drive to expand.

“Relatively cheap debt and strong farm income encouraged the expansion of these businesses,” Mr Gurry said.

“This was evident throughout the first half of 2022 with market activity indicating a capital growth in excess of 20 percent per annum.”

Mark Barber said family operators in eastern states have been remarkably resilient in 2022 and continuing to expand despite heavy rainfall and flooding.

He said the situation was reversed for growers in Western Australia and South Australia, with record grain harvests on the cards.

“We are yet to see what the full rural property market impacts of the devastating floods on the East Coast will be.

“It must have been devastating for farmers to see crops that started with so much potential, succumb to excess rainfall and floods.

“However, with full soil moisture profiles and spilling dams, most regions are set up for a good start in 2023.”

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10. Major NT cropping acquisition

Although not a sizable historic cropping property, the sale of the Northern Territory’s Blackbull Station in June was notable as an acquisition driven by the new owner’s intention to expand the block’s cotton production potential.

Located in the Douglas Daly region, the 14,342ha mostly grazing property was purchased by NSW-based fund manager Australian Agricultural Growth Partners for circa $30M.

The company will collaborate with Customised Farm Management to expand the dryland cotton production footprint at Blackbull.

The property had 800ha developed to cotton with another 5500ha to improved pasture species.

Blackbull Station sold to agricultural investment fund with plans to expand dryland cotton

admin@cfma.com.au (Customised Farm Management) — Sat, 11 Jun 2022 01:28:46 GMT

Blackbull Station sold to agricultural investment fund with plans to expand dryland cotton

Published by By Daniel Fitzgerald via ABC Rural on 10/06/2022

An agricultural investment fund has paid around $25 million for 14,300 hectares of freehold land in the Northern Territory's Douglas Daly region, with plans to expand its dryland cropping operation.

Australian Agricultural Growth (AAG) Partners purchased Blackbull Station, 250 kilometres south of Darwin, according to documents from the NT Land Titles Office. Several thousand head of cattle included in the sale puts the total price around $30 million. The price for the land, around $1,755 per hectare, is thought to be a record for a non-horticultural property in the NT.

In an information paper circulated to potential investors before the purchase, AAG Partners said Blackbull Station "could become one of Australia's most profitable cotton enterprises". "The asset fits perfectly with AAG Partners' investment thesis … enabling the asset to be actively converted from lower-value grazing land to high-value cropping land, producing over 4,000 hectares of cotton crop per annum, with the asset expected to be generating significant revenue by the end of the first year," the paper said. "By converting large areas of the asset to dryland cotton production, the fund will exploit the underlying rainfall dynamics of Australia's north."

Moree-based Customised Farm Management will manage the ongoing cotton development at Blackbull, which this season is harvesting around 800 hectares of the crop.

Agent Andy Gray said there was a lot of interest in Blackbull from southern agricultural businesses looking for land. "I'd suggest that it is very much on the back of the strong desire to get into the top end of Australia, under this good rainfall, on the good soil, on this freehold land to grow cotton," he said.

The sale of Blackbull included an 8 gigalitre groundwater extraction licence and three centre-pivot points and a towable pivot. The property was once owned by managed investment scheme Great Southern that, after its collapse, sold Blackbull to Territorians Peter Maley and Troy Angus in 2013 for $4.8 million.

Top End cotton harvest begins

Cotton harvesting began in the Northern Territory this week, with around 8,000 hectares expected to be picked this season.

Bruce Connolly from Tipperary Station said a below-average wet season for some parts of the Top End would impact yields. "The rainfall hasn't been quite as helpful as it could have been, so yields are generally down on what they could be," he said. "But overall, the general feeling in the industry is one of confidence, and the yields that they are getting — even with the lower rainfall — are relatively encouraging." Cotton prices recently hit $1,000 per bale, which has not been seen since 2011.

NT growers will again have to truck their cotton thousands of kilometres to be processed in Queensland, after delays in completing the new gin at Katherine.

Mr Connolly said the high price of diesel would only add to the already expensive cost of trucking cotton to Queensland.

"It's going to be a hit that the farmers take, but the current price for cotton is going to offset that somewhat," he said.

"I would like to think that everyone would be in a pretty strong position to handle [the transport costs], but we certainly don't want to be having to do it year after year."

NSW interests swoop on NT cotton cropping opportunity

admin@cfma.com.au (Customised Farm Management) — Sat, 11 Jun 2022 00:57:59 GMT

NSW interests swoop on NT cotton cropping opportunity

Property editor Linda Rowley via Property Central on 08/06/2022

The first major land acquisition for dryland cotton production in the Northern Territory has been made following the sale of the top end grazing property Blackbull Station .

Fund manager Australian Agricultural Growth Partners is believed to have paid around $30 million for the 14,342ha holding in the Douglas Daly region, south of Darwin. If proven accurate, the price represents a significant premium over grazing land value in the region.

The new owners are New South Wales-based and deal in agribusiness, asset management, property and finance.

According to its website, AAG Partners has managed billions of dollars worth of agricultural property and infrastructure assets globally for some of the world’s largest and most respected investors.

The company will work with Moree-based Customised Farm Management which will oversee the ongoing dryland cotton development on Blackbull.

It is understood cattle will continue to be run on the unimproved country, with around 1500 head of cattle included in the sale.

The holding comprises two freehold properties – the 9400ha Theyona and the 4942ha Blackbull – situated in an annual 1200mm rainfall district, which is a critical attribute for dryland cotton.

Blackbull overlays the highest yielding of the Top End aquifer systems known as Oolloo Dolostone, with recorded bore flow follow rates up 120 lps. The property also has 14km of Daly River frontage.

It also boasts Kandosol soils ideal for agricultural and horticultural production. These deep red, yellow and brown earthy soils occur throughout the NT, particularly in the Top End, Sturt Plateau, Tennant Creek and Central Australian regions.

Currently running around 5000 head of mostly backgrounder cattle, the holding has 5500ha developed to improved pasture species, 800ha of dryland cotton and some leucaena. The balance is native country.

The current owners have held Blackbull Station for nine years, acquiring it in 2013 following the collapse of the Great Southern Group, which earmarked the property for timber plantation development. At the time of purchase, it was growing mahogany plantations and today, some of these trees are still growing.

Blackbull was offered on an off-market basis by Andy Gray from Andrew Gray Land and Livestock.

Unable to disclose the price, Mr Gray said the sale was significant in terms of growing the NT’s agricultural sector.

“It is first major acquisition for dryland cotton production and development in the NT. Blackbull offers diversified income steams via hay production, with recently established cotton crops providing encouraging results to date,” he said

Additionally, Blackbull has 13 bores and is licenced to extract eight gigalitres of groundwater currently providing three centre pivot points and this is likely to increase.

Northern Australia’s cotton industry is gathering momentum with the construction of the Northern Territory’s first cotton gin, 35km north of Katherine. There are also plans to build a gin in Western Australia’s Ord region.

Nearly all cotton currently produced in the NT is grown under rain, with a consistent 1000mm to 1800mm across the growing season considered ‘ample’ for a dryland crop.

In 2019, the cattle-based Tipperary Station , located south of Adelaide River, diversified and grew its first commercial crop of cotton and has been increasing production ever since. It also grows corn for silage, as well as hay and sorghum to feed to weaners and grown cattle.

The one Aussie industry booming despite economic turmoil.

admin@cfma.com.au (Customised Farm Management) — Sat, 11 Jun 2022 00:52:19 GMT

The one Aussie industry booming despite economic turmoil

Published by Duncan Murray via news.com.au on 08/06/2022

Australia is expected to deliver its best summer crop on record despite a challenging year for farmers. An estimated yield of 5.5 million tonnes for 2021–22 will help overall agricultural exports surpass an expected $80bn for a second consecutive year. The new report by the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences (ABARES) painted a shining picture of Australia’s fortunes.

Heavy rainfall across Queensland and northern NSW in the early part of 2022 added to excellent conditions throughout the summer. The rainfall was not without casualties however, with some farms hit by flooding, weather damage, harvest delays and, in some cases, the total loss of crops.

The impact was fairly localised, however, and had little impact on national volumes, according to ABARES. GrainGrowers chair Brett Hosking said surging prices for exports were an opportunity for farmers to get a better return on their product. “We’re seeing more hectares go in as growers do try and chase some of the higher prices – knowing that the prices won’t necessarily be around forever,” he said.

Summer harvests of grain sorghum and cotton lint are forecast to be the best ever on the back of high yields and record plantings. Winter crops going in the ground are also expected to deliver some of the best yields the country has ever seen with an estimated fourth highest production level of 50.9 million tonnes. Wheat, barley and canola are all expected to surge well beyond the past decade average and deliver strong prices overseas.

With higher rainfall in the eastern states and Western Australia came good soil moisture, perfect for planting winter crops. Again, the rain has caused some areas to become waterlogged and reduced planting. Mr Hosking said some crops were also well behind schedule for planting due to the soggy conditions. “We’re seeing the wet weather causing some challenges. That being said, if you’ve got moisture in the ground that’s an opportunity if you can get the crop in and have it there to support it,” he said.

A smaller area of crops than last winter is expected to be planted as a result – although specific varieties of wheat and canola have increased in overall planting area because of high prices. Mr Hosking added the conditions throughout the winter season could still throw up many challenges – from flooding and hail to frost events. “Hopefully, none of that eventuates and the season continues to support the growers and they do have another cracking year,” he said.

National Farmers’ Federation president Fiona Simson pointed out production costs had surged during the pandemic, putting extra strain on farmers’ incomes.

“Prices for fertiliser, fuel and power are on a rocket ride to the moon,” Ms Simson said. She added worker shortages caused by the pandemic had also put a “handbrake” on production and “will only worsen later in the year during the crucial harvest period”.

Production costs of things like fertiliser tend to affect smaller operations more, with larger farms more able to hold adequate stocks and maximise returns by using farm machinery, according to ABARES. Ms Simson called on the Albanese government to help problem solve how to keep production costs reasonable and stop them being passed on to the consumer. “Another $80bn year means we are well on the way to achieving our goal to be a $100bn industry by 2030, but now is the time to ensure we’re ready for when seasons and markets inevitably turn,” Ms Simson said.

Australia's cotton industry is looking towards a brighter future

Sat, 18 Jul 2020 03:58:18 GMT

Australia's cotton industry is looking towards a brighter future

Cotton Australia have announced they will relaunch their Cotton Gap program, which sees growers host school leavers on farm.

The program was first launched in 2017 but did not run last year, as drought and reduced water allocations led to the 2019/2020 Australian cotton crop being the lowest planted since the 1980s.

But, after widespread rain the outlook for next season's cotton crop is looking brighter. Additionally, the closure of international borders due to COVID-19 means there are thousands of school-leavers who had planned overseas gap years looking for an alternative.

Cotton Australia Education Coordinator Jenny Hughes said Cotton Gap engaged with the next generation of workers, so the industry could secure a skilled workforce for seasons to come.

"This is a great opportunity for the Australian cotton industry to attract a new group of students to experience farm life and all it has to offer as a future career pathway."

Matt Clearwater completed Cotton Gap on a property west of Moree, NSW, in 2017.

He said came across the program by chance when visiting the Cotton Australia website for a school assignment on biotechnology.

"Growing up in Canberra, I had no exposure to careers in the cotton industry prior to joining Cotton Gap," Mr Clearwater said.

"I had read the sensationalist headlines in the papers and that's what my family and friends expected of the industry, but it's certainly much more sustainable than most people think."

Mr Clearwater said the gap year program set him up for a career in agronomy, which he would never have considered otherwise.

"After my time on the Cotton Gap program I decided that's what I wanted to be."

Mr Clearwater is in his final semester of a Bachelor of Agriculture at the University of New England and will take up an agronomist position in the Riverina at the end of the year.

Cotton Australia is seeking expressions of interest from growers to host young people on farm in 2021.

Investors Good For Locals

Sat, 03 Feb 2018 10:31:33 GMT

Investors Good for Locals

Source: The Land, 2018

Institutions and individuals investing large volumes of capital, foreign or domestic, into Australian agricultural land is not new – but good land management that also increases productivity and profitability from this investment lies in the hands of some smart local land managers.

Two Australian farmers, both with tertiary agricultural qualifications who are heavily involved in productivity gain and capital deployment, Andrew Parkes and Andrew Ordish, have forged a conduit between these investors from the late 2000s through their business, Custom ised Farm Management (CFM), Moree.

Andrew Parkes said they initially saw increasing property investment but wondered how investors were going to run those farms, providing a possible opportunity for their business plan.

“Investors had the capital, but not the understanding or knowledge of what assets they should buy, and how to operate them,” Mr. Parkes said.

“We recognised that opportunity and started our company.”

CFM began by partnering with a AAA-rated U.S.-based agricultural asset management company that had purchased properties in Australia.

“That experience gave us the understanding of what we had to build within a business to help satisfy the requirements of that capital being deployed,” he said.

Today, CFM manages 20 properties in Queensland, NSW, and Victoria, totalling nearly 110,000 hectares for 12 different clients, including high-net-worth individuals and institutions. The collective value of assets currently under management is almost $350 million, with CFM also participating in some ownership.

Mr. Parkes highlighted the benefits:

“Investors understand farming as a business. They focus on pushing their assets to increase returns while maintaining sustainability.”

These investors are data-driven and seek ways to enhance productivity, including development projects, irrigation upgrades, no-till farming, and growing alternative crops.

“When cost-benefit analyses are explained, they are ready to invest,” he added.

The impact of such investments includes:

Better farm assets and investor returns.
Benefits for local service providers and communities.

“Capital deployment uplifts farms and creates employment opportunities,” Mr. Parkes said.

In areas like Griffith, Narrandera, Darlington Point, Hay, and Hillston, foreign investments have positively impacted local economies.

“Locals often see the benefits and grow alongside these developments,” he noted.

The use of local service providers ensures that capital deployment supports community growth.

“It is rewarding to see increased productivity, local business growth, employment opportunities, and a vibrant community buzz.”

customised-farm-management

CFM's Matt Clearwater Attends Pistachio Growers Association Event

CFM's Matt Clearwater Attends Pistachio Growers Association Event

Sarah Parkes Speaks at the 2024 CSD Mastering Cotton Forum

Sarah Parkes Speaks at the 2024 CSD Mastering Cotton Forum

You can listen to the full episode below.

Richard Malone talks Carbon on the AgTech Finder Podcast

Richard Malone Talks Carbon on the AgTech Finder Podcast

You can listen to the full episode below.

Katherine Cotton Gin opening marks a milestone for Northern Territory agriculture

Katherine Cotton Gin opening marks a milestone for Northern Territory agriculture

Katherine Cotton Gin Opening

Top 10 defining cropping property sales of 2022

Blackbull Station sold to agricultural investment fund with plans to expand dryland cotton

Families lead 2022 acquisitions

Blackbull Station sold to agricultural investment fund with plans to expand dryland cotton

Blackbull Station sold to agricultural investment fund with plans to expand dryland cotton

Top End cotton harvest begins

NSW interests swoop on NT cotton cropping opportunity

NSW interests swoop on NT cotton cropping opportunity

Property editor Linda Rowley via Property Central on 08/06/2022

The one Aussie industry booming despite economic turmoil.

The one Aussie industry booming despite economic turmoil

Published by Duncan Murray via news.com.au on 08/06/2022

Australia's cotton industry is looking towards a brighter future

﻿ Australia's cotton industry is looking towards a brighter future ﻿

Investors Good For Locals

Investors Good for Locals

Australia's cotton industry is looking towards a brighter future