- Goondiwindi
- Agents: Clayton Smith, 0428 878 523, JLL. Andrew Jakins, 0427 374 441, Nutrien Harcourts.
Serious agribusiness investors are running their slide-rules over the Parkdale Aggregation, a large-scale irrigation operation in the Border Rivers region of far northern NSW.
Parkdale Aggregation is the 2949 hectare (7285ac) property of Wally Taylor, a respected cotton industry identity whose family has developed the present holding over the past 100 years.
The offering therefore represents a rare opportunity for an investor or institution to acquire a land and water parcel of this scale, in a renowned, year-round farming area.
Wally Taylor (pictured) was one of the pioneer cotton-growers in the Macintyre Valley of the Border Rivers system, where he was a major contributor to the 1994 extension to the Pindari Dam.
He was also a long-standing director of Namoi Cotton, serving on the board for 20 years until 2009.
Mr Taylor is now retirement-bound, and has listed Parkdale Aggregation for sale by expressions of interest with JLL and Nutrien Harcourts, offers to be submitted by July 30.
Included in the sale - and representing on its own more than $20 million in value - is the property's 8812 megalitres of licensed entitlement to the Border Rivers system.
Straddling the Newell Highway 15 kilometres south of Goondiwindi on the Whalan Creek floodplain, Parkdale Aggregation is an aggregation of four properties: Parkdale (65 per cent, Morella Lagoon. Colmara and Vonrick.
The country is characterised by soft, fertile, alluvial soils and across the aggregation some 2392ha of arable land has been farmed with dryland and irrigated crops.
Of this, 1481ha of land is developed for irrigation of which 148ha is under lateral move, 231ha under pivot, 649ha under channel gate delivery and 453ha traditional syphon flood irrigation.
Water is delivered directly from the river via the Macintyre Irrigation Association South (MIAS) water scheme to the Parkdale Aggregation storage dams.
The MIAS channel enters the aggregation through two entry points located either side of the Newell Highway.
Water from regulated releases and flood harvesting is then diverted by lift pumps into the storage dams which have a combined capacity of 5350ML.
The aggregation also holds two 60ML irrigation bore entitlements.
In normal seasons the property grows 800ha to 1200ha of irrigated cotton, and under drought conditions this season the reduced 188ha crop on Parkdale Aggregation was one of the few to be picked in the Macintyre Valley.
Winter crops are also part of the mix, and included in the sale is the current winter crop comprising 516ha of wheat and 672ha of barley.
The property comes with extensive working improvements including machinery sheds, workshops and 783 tonnes of elevated grain storage, plus two substantial homesteads and three cottages.
