MURRAY Goulburn expects its equity partnership program between family farmers and outside investors to become "a whole lot bigger", says shareholder relations manager Robert Poole.
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"We didn't have to go looking too hard for the money - it came to us," he said.
Mr Poole noted agriculture needed a capital booster shot worth tens of billions of dollars before 2030 if it was to gear up to take advantage of consumer and supply chain demands ahead for Australian food producers.
"These are huge numbers. We can't expect the mums and dads running our farms to borrow all that money to fund the next generation of dairy growth in Australia," he said.
While Australian investment groups were generally "gun shy" about investing in farming ventures, overseas investors had shown confidence in using Murray Goulburn to identify good farmers with good reporting and management track records who would benefit from equity help.
"Big investment companies like dealing with big companies, so they've brought the investment projects to us - a $2.4b business with a good understanding of what's needed on both sides," Mr Poole said.
"They see family dairy farmers as the best people to operate their assets. It's a very exciting project with huge potential to grow among our suppliers."