Dirranbandi property, Tooroora, sold before heading to auction. Photo: Nutrien Ag

QUEENSLAND irrigated cotton and dryland cropping property, Tooroora, has sold before auction to New South Wales farmers Andrew and Jo Slack-Smith.

The 6677-hectare property located at Dirranbandi near the Queensland, NSW border was set to go to auction on April 21 but went under contract before this date.

Nutrien Ag Solutions Goondiwind agent Andrew Jakins said recent rainfall as well as the other water entitlements made Tooroora an attractive proposition for prospective buyers.

“We had good interest for the property,” Mr Jakins said.

“There is good seasonal conditions; the property is full of water and also had a good moisture profile for the winter planting.”

The Slack-Smiths have existing farming operations at Burren Junction in northern NSW.

Mr Jakins said the buyers will have access to plant this season’s winter crop and reap the benefits of the good soil moisture.

“They will get to plant about [4000ha] of winter crop.”

Water availability was the highlight of this mixed irrigation and dryland crop property, with a 2262-megalitre irrigation water license and overland flow license alongside 12,900ML of on-farm storage and access to water harvesting events within the Lower Balonne system.

In addition to the opportunity to plant a winter crop, 530ha of cotton and 250ha of mungbeans were also included with the property.

This transaction comes off the back of other high profile cotton property sales.

This includes the sale of the 19,896ha Kooba Ag Hay Aggregation last month to Riverina farmers, the Paterson family.

Although it did not reach earlier price expectations, the property sold for $63 million.

In February, Macquarie Infrastructure and Real Assets (MIRA) announced it had acquired the remaining 51 per cent stake in Cubbie Station, located in south-west Queensland.

This transaction took the agricultural funds total ownership of Cubbie to 100pc.

Qld cotton property on market

North-east of Tooroora, in the tightly held inner Darling Downs cropping region, irrigated cotton enterprise Wynola Aggregation came to the market earlier this month.

Located 10 kilometres north of Brookstead, the 638ha aggregation is being sold by JLL on behalf of vendors the Little family.

Wynola Aggregation and stand-alone property Mondamere will head to auction in July. Photo: JLL

JLL Agribusiness director Clayton Smith said about 540ha of the property is irrigable with the balance made up of dryland cropping and support land.

“The Wynola Aggregation has been astutely and progressively developed to be recognised as a highly productive irrigated enterprise, representing an outstanding opportunity for a purchaser wanting to secure a blue chip asset,” Mr Smith said in a statement.

“The new owners will be well positioned to perform with on-farm storages at capacity, over 1000ML of bore water in current account and a full soil moisture profile.”

He said the Little family has invested significant capital, such as implementing two overhead sprinkler laterals, to ensure high levels of operational efficiency.

“Outstanding soil types and profiles, water security and modern infrastructures built for efficient production place this award-winning property at the pinnacle of Australian cropping opportunities.”

The vendors are also offering in parallel the standalone property, Mondamere, located 18km to the east at Irongate, north of Pittsworth.

Wynola Aggregation and Mondamere are for sale by auction on July 7.

The individual properties which make up the Wynola Aggregation and Mondamere may be acquired in one line or as separate assets.

Grain Central: Get our free news straight to your inbox – Click here