
Harvesting in 2023 at Merredin Farms in the North Bodallin district. Photo: Colliers
WESTERN Australia’s Merredin Farms Wheatbelt Portfolio has reportedly been sold to several WA farming interests to wind up a period of foreign and investment ownership.
While agent Colliers declined to comment on Merredin Farms Wheatbelt Portfolio matters, industry sources have said it has been broken up and sold to six or seven entities.
They are said to include John Nicoletti., who with wife Julie initially aggregated 200,000ha of leasehold and freehold country acquired in 2019 by the Saudi Agricultural and Livestock Investment Company, and operated as Merredin Farms.
Parts of the aggregation have been sold in the intervening years, and WA-based investor PenAgri bought a stake in the operation which listed in January with Colliers as the 77,954ha Merredin Farms Wheatbelt Portfolio via an expressions-of-interest campaign.
After failing to sell as a whole, the portfolio listed in September in two portions, the 37,553ha Bodallin Aggregation and the 40,401ha Warralakin Aggregation, which jointly comprise numerous titles in the North Bodallin district of WA’s Central Wheatbelt.
Dispersal points to sale
Substantiating reports of the sale is NASCO Auctioneers’ catalogue for possibly the biggest single-vendor broadacre machinery auction in Australian history.

The Merredin Farms dispersal sale catalogue includes one 477kW 9R 640 John Deere tractor among its more than 600 lots. Photo: NASCO
The online auction comprises more than 600 lots, including 16 John Deere headers, 29 John Deere tractors, and two Case tractors, and a raft of grain-handling and farming gear, including some sheep equipment.
“Merredin Farms has a significant portion of late-model farming assets that will be sold via public auction, presenting one of Australia’s largest premier agricultural equipment auctions,” the NASCO website states, which adds inspection days will be held throughout the duration of the online auction running in mid February.
Return to local hands
The reported sale puts paid to rumours in WA early last year that Perth-based Woodside Energy planned to buy the portfolio as a carbon offset for its oil and gas production.
It also indicates the appetite for increased economies of scale from existing WA farming operations being greater than that presented by offshore or domestic investment funds.
SALIC and PenAgri have been contacted for comment.
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