Page 11 - National Poultry Newspaper

Fairfax family snaps up farms
A NEW agriculture business headed by John B. Fairfax has acquired farms near Tamworth and in southeast Queensland to the value of $23 mil- lion, amid a surge of high net worth and in- stitutional capital into food-producing rural property.
Cashin, the former chief operating officer of poultry giant Inghams and a non-executive di- rector at SunPork.
prices, rising demand for food security and the resilience shown by the agricultural sector dur- ing the pandemic.
spent $14 million on a 144-hectare poultry farm on Mount Walker Rd at Rosevale in the Scenic Rim.
Established in Novem- ber last year, Fairglen Farms comes under the umbrella of Sydney- based Marinya Capital, the family office of the former media baron.
“There’s not much to talk about yet,” Ms Cashin said.
The property has ap- proval for 12 sheds housing up to 480,000 chickens.
Ms Cashin declined to comment on the Fairfax family’s broader plans for Fairglen Farms citing the newness of the venture.
John B. Fairfax has strong ties to farming through both his success in turning Rural Press into a successful pub- lishing empire, and fam- ily investments in agri- culture and its support of nature conservation.
The acquisition was through 41Boulders Pty Ltd, which has the same shareholders and direc- tors as Fairglen.
Fairglen’s first acquisi- tion is a 990.5-hectare mixed-farming property on Somerton Road in Klori, about 40 kilome- tres north of Tamworth.
It has also been re- ported that Mr Fairfax
First appeared on afr. com
Ownership is split evenly between John B. Fairfax, his wife Helen and their son Nicholas.
Property records show it was acquired for $17.5 million.
According to its web- site, Fairglen Farms will invest in “large-scale agricultural businesses for the Fairfax family.”
In southeast Queens- land in the Scenic Rim region, Fairglen paid $5.45 million for an 88-hectare poultry farm at 58 Sawmill Road in Aratula.
“Our primary focus is growing our assets across Australia and New Zealand while developing long-term strategic partnerships across the agricultural supply chain.”
The property was of- fered for sale by the Majeed family’s L&N Sunshine Group.
Heading up the Fair- glen Group as chief ex- ecutive office is Janelle
The Fairglen acquisi- tions follow a stream of high net worth and institutional funds into farmland on the back of strong commodity
John B Fairfax is expanding his agricultural invest- ments. Photo: Danielle Smith
Modernising the meat export regulatory system
CRITICAL govern- ment and industry ac- tion to modernise the Australian export meat inspection and regula- tory system is underway following the $328 mil- lion Busting Congestion for Agricultural Export- ers measure, announced by the Australian Gov- ernment as part of the 2020/21 Budget.
en since the 2011 Austral- ian Export Meat Inspec- tion System reforms.
reforms from March 2021, supported by a six-month transition timeframe – practically this means that department will no longer provide Food Safety Meat Inspectors where the function could otherwise be provided through the use of Australian Gov- ernment Authorised Of- ficers, instead the depart- ment will only continue to provide a government veterinarian and a FSMA who will undertake the final disposition of prod- uct at each export meat establishment in accord- ance with market access requirements
The Busting Congestion for Agricultural Exporters package will fund reforms for Australian agricultur- al sectors, including the meat processing sector, to reduce unnecessary red tape, get products to ex- port markets faster and support jobs in rural and remote Australia.
Major modernisation proposals includes the ‘Digital Services to Take Farmers to Markets’ and ‘Building a More Com- petitive Meat Industry’ measures.
• Support economic re- covery, and provide jobs in rural, regional and re- mote Australia
• Support government efforts in response to COVID-19, bushfires and drought, and
The Building a More Competitive Meat Indus- try measure embeds mod- ernisation activities that will keep Australia’s ex- port systems world lead- ing and introduces new regulatory assurance tools that reward high levels of conformance and targets any areas of poor compli- ance.
• Improvements to sys- tems and processes, such as streamlined approval variations for Approved Arrangements, and as- sessing new technologies such as smart-glasses, other virtual technologies and enhanced processing equipment, for introduc- tion at export meat pro- cessing establishments in a simplified and more timely way.
• Provide an immedi- ate freeze on increases in fees and charges, to assist exporters with the impacts of COVID-19, with stepped increases to be spread over four years consistent with the gov- ernment’s cost recovery policy.
The measures an- nounced in the budget will support the devel- opment of a more com- petitive meat industry by bolstering Australia’s reputation as a provider of high-quality safe meat, underpinned by a robust regulatory system.
The measure also intro- duces flexible assurance methods, including smart- er technology to ensure the Australian meat indus- try maintains and expands its global position as the number one supplier of choice.
AMIC’s National Pro- cessor Council chair Terry Nolan said the Australian export meat sector under- stood the vital role it plays in achieving our joint aim of $100 billion in farm gate returns by 2030.
To deliver strong out- comes for the export meat processing sector, a pack- age of modernisation pro- posals has been developed in conjunction with, and strongly supported by, in- dustry leaders – including senior representatives of the Australian Meat In- dustry Council and other export meat processing establishments.
Key modernisation pro- posals include:
“A key pillar of this is building exports – and our sector plays a key role in Australia’s overall ag- ricultural export growth,” Mr Nolan said.
Deputy Secretary of the
Department of Agricul-
ture, Water and the En-
vironment’s Agriculture
Trade Group David Ha-
zlehurst said the moderni-
sation of the export meat
sector will be the most
comprehensive undertak- thorised Officer AEMIS
“It’s also incredibly im- portant that we work with government to make sure that our regulatory system continues to be contem- porary, fit for purpose and robust.
“The package will mod- ernise Australia’s regula- tory approach, making our systems best practice and enabling the Depart- ment, in its role as the agricultural export regula- tor, to undertake its assur- ance more efficiently,” Mr Hazlehurst said.
$30,000
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Leghorn 1000 chicken caravan x 3
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The package, worth more than $328.4 mil- lion over four years from 2020-21, will:
The Digital Services to Take Farmers to Markets measure includes an in- vestment of $222.2 mil- lion to modernise Aus- tralia’s agricultural export systems by reducing red tape and improving regu- lation and service deliv- ery for our producers and exporters.
• Post-mortem inspec- tion and disposition mod- ernisation activities to align modern food safety science and our meat standards
• Support Australia’s ag- riculture industry to grow towards a $100 billion in farm gate returns by 2030 – from $61 billion cur- rently
Practically, this measure will transition depart- mental export systems online and provide a sin- gle portal for transactions between exporters and government, streamlining processes for exporters and helping them expe- rience faster and more cost-effective services, while continuing to meet trading partners’ require- ments.
• The ongoing imple- mentation of a formal, transparent market access prioritisation framework
• Maintain and strength- en existing preferential access to overseas mar- kets
• With a focus on high performing quality sys- tems, transitioning export establishments to six- monthly audits with an- nual audits introduced for highly compliant process- ing establishments that have capacity to provide real time and quality data assurance to the depart- ment, and
• A digital modernisa- tion roadmap investing in technology and iden- tifying opportunities to improve regulatory ac- tivities such as develop- ing electronic processes to replace paper-based forms, bringing in ‘smart’ technologies for agreed verification activities and doing away with manual processes and outdated technologies to bring in administrative efficiency
“Knowing that we can continue to deliver high- quality and safe meat products to a global mar- ketisparamount.
• A commitment from industry leaders to the full implementation of the 2011 Australian Au-
“We are proud to play our part in driving mod- ernisation for the benefit of the whole agricultural sector.”
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National Poultry Newspaper, November 2020 – Page 11
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