Anyone who was around in the 1970s and reading this newspaper would remember stories at that time about a new “wonder crop” called jojoba. A desert plant native to southern Arizona in North America, jojoba (pronounced ‘ho-ho-ba’) produces a seed rich in oil that is highly prized by the cosmetics industry for use as a moisturiser.
The oil was only discovered in the United States in the early 1970s, but by the late 1970s jojoba was being spruiked – both there and here – as a new cash crop tailor-made for semi-arid environments. Advertisements in The Land proclaimed jojoba as “the sperm whale oil substitute”, which might have afforded some comfort to whales, but early attempts to cultivate the plant were less than spectacular.
It wasn’t until research by CSIRO and the then Department of Agriculture at Condobolin identified and developed suitable varieties, and worked out how and where best to grow them, that jojoba ceased to be the latest pub joke and started being viewed as a viable crop.
That was in the 1990s, which was when Surrey and Faye Bogg decided to buy a property called “Yarrawa” near Forbes specifically to establish a jojoba plantation, based on the latest advice.
The resulting 100 hectare plantation (Australia’s largest) demonstrated that jojoba, grown under the right conditions, could indeed hold its own as a profitable agricultural investment. Now the Boggs are approaching retirement and they have listed “Yarrawa” for sale by tender with Ainslie Toole of Landmark Harcourts Forbes.
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Situated just off the Lachlan Valley Way 26 kilometres west of Forbes, “Yarrawa” is a property of 670 hectares (1657ac) of which about 180ha is silty loam, free-draining floodplain country. In the past this country has grown irrigated lucerne and fodder crops. It is also ideal for cotton, but the jojoba is grown on part of the 240ha of “Yarrawa” with sandy soils that better mirror its desert origins.
Although a dryland plant once established, the jojoba was initially irrigated and the property comes with two irrigation bores and Lachlan River water from Jemalong Irrigation. The combined water entitlements amount to 1590ML and with the plantation having only ever used 200ML in a season, the property has rich scope for further irrigation development.
After harvest, the jojoba seeds are graded and dried before being trucked to Young for cleaning and thence to Cootamundra for cold pressing. All jojoba oil in Australia is marketed through an industry co-operative, Jojoba Australia, at a price that has averaged $39 a kilogram, or $32 less costs, over the past five years.
And with the 100ha plantation on “Yarrawa” having produced up to 20 tonnes of seed at annual harvest, yielding 10 tonnes of oil, the notional gross return has approached $400,000. Structural improvements include a three-bedroom homestead, a cottage now used for storage and a two-stand shearing shed.
Tenders for “Yarrawa” close on November 7, with offers expected to top $3 million, due in part to the property’s attractive water entitlements and its obvious development potential.
