This article is from the Australian Property Journal archive
A CITRUS and avocado property in the New South Wales Riverina region has been listed by a syndicate of investors with price expectations of circa $25 million.
The 501-hectare Moricom Orchards comprises a total orchard area of 108.28-hectares that were planted between 2007 and 2023 and includes mix of Afourer Mandarins, Sumo Mandarins and Hass Avocados.
This in addition to 167.89-hectares of plantable land ready for future expansion.
Boo Harvey and John Harrison from CBRE Agribusiness have been appointed to manage the sale via an expression of interest campaign, on behalf of the syndicate that includes well-known citrus industry stalwarts John and Dean Morris.
The vendors selected the property for key attributes such as its proximity to the Murrumbidgee Irrigation Main Canal, elevated topography for minimal risk of frost and flood, fertile soils and its Mediterranean climate.
“The Moricom Orchards site was strategically selected and has been designed to grow premium quality sweet tasting seedless fruit targeted at supplying counter seasonal export markets and the Delite and Sumo consumer citrus brands in Australia,” said Harvey.
“The avocado production is aimed at supplying the gap after Queensland harvest has finished and before Western Australia commences.”
The mandarin plantings have been developed to a best-in-class standard with 54.93-hectares trained on trellis systems and 51-hectares of the mandarin plantings under permanent netting providing protection with all trees planted on north-south large, raised mounds in high density plantings ranging from 1,000 to 1,500 trees per hectare.
Moricom Orchards is managed using open hydroponics principles, with the orchard’s irrigation water automatically pH adjusted via state-of-the-art fully automated drip irrigation and fertigation systems.
Unique management techniques such as ‘water stressing’ are adopted to increase the natural sugar content in the fruit desired by premium markets. The orchard is set up for platform harvesting as a precursor to robotic harvesting in the future.
“Moricom Orchards presents a unique and advantageous opportunity for investors, with the orchard developed to a best-in-class standard offering diversification, young weighted average tree age and further expansion potential,” said Harrison.
Last year closed out with one of Australia’s large-scale poultry pioneers, David Bartter, offloading his 26,839-hectare Riverina aggregation Ballandry, having listed the property with expectations of around $120 million.
