Australian Business Network | 2 January 2026

by Chris Herde

Cashed up Australian buyers are vying with overseas capital for farmland in 2026 with beef and large cropping assets set to attract the big money with the value of agriculture in the country forecast to reach almost $100bn.

Chris Holgar, JLL’s senior director Agribusiness Australia, said in terms of agricultural land, the northern half of Australia outperforms the southern states in sales activity, largely due to more favourable seasonal conditions.

“Although parts of Queensland were impacted by flooding in early 2025, those regions recovered rapidly,” he said.

“In contrast, challenging seasonal conditions across the southern states have kept sales activity subdued.

“This trend is reflected in the data where sales volumes in Queensland and the Northern Territory increased by more than 7 per cent in the year to September, while NSW, Victoria, South Australia and Tasmania collectively recorded a decline of almost 22 per cent over the same period.”

Mr Holgar said offshore buyers will continue to feature in Australia’s largest property sales.

“On a global basis, Australian farmland remains competitively priced after adjusting

for productivity, scale and operating conditions,” he said.

“With the continued globalisation and institutionalisation of the sector, we expect the market to remain resilient to short-term shocks in 2026, with values continuing to grow at a modest and more sustainable pace compared with the rapid escalation of recent years.”

The largest deal for the 2025 calendar year was a venture backed by Canada’s PSP Investments bought out its co-investors in a $500m deal for the cotton, crops, livestock and almond orchard Kooba Aggregation at Griffith in western NSW.

Stanbroke Pastoral Company - owned by the Queensland-based Menegazzo family - paid about $400m for Rangers Valley feedlot and grain-fed beef business in northern NSW from its Japanese owners, Marubeni Corporation.

However, on the reverse side last year, a $780m deal for US-based Agriculture & Natural Solutions Acquisition Corporation – which is backed by Impact Ag Partners and asset management firm, Riverstone Holdings LLC - to buy 13 NSW farms spanning 225,405ha fell over.

Despite the deal falling over, Mr Holgar said international benchmarks reinforced Australia’s relative affordability.

According to Eurostat, the average price per hectare of arable land in Europe was just under $21,000 in 2023, compared with Australia’s average of $9421 per hectare.

Data from the US shows US farmland averaging $15,760 per hectare in 2024, while the comparable Australian figure was AUD $9617 per hectare.

“This price differential continues to support strong interest from domestic and offshorecapital, providing a solid foundation for steady growth in 2026,” he said.

According to Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences forecasts, Australia’s agriculture, fisheries, and forestry sectors in FY26 are set to reach a combined value of $106bn for the first time with agriculture alone set to reach $99.5bn.

The record value will be driven by a combination of strong livestock prices, helped by the US government’s tariff backdown on Australian beef, China’s return to the canola market, and increased productivity in sectors like horticulture.

“Grain and oilseed harvest is ongoing, and production is likely to exceed the five year average and it will be a very good crop allowing for more exports in 2026 than in 2025,” said RaboResearch general manager Australia and New Zealand Stefan Vogel.

The latest 2025 Global Beef Quarterly by RaboResearch estimated that 2025 Australian production will be about 2.9 million metric tonnes, an 11 per cent increase on 2024 volumes and a new record.

Along with increasing production, beef exports have also increased, up 15 per cent for the first 10 months of 2025 to 1.3 million metric tonnes shipped weight.

The US remains the largest market, accounting for 29 per cent of Australian beef exports while volumes to China have lifted substantially (up 44 per cent) for the first 10 months of 2025.

“Geopolitics has been a major theme in 2025 as the US is the second largest export destination for Australian agri products (in value terms) behind China,” Mr Vogel said.

“Especially for the beef sector where volatility and uncertainty were major factors, but the Australian industry has delivered very well and exports of beef to the US reached record levels. Very strong export demand for beef and lamb supported prices despite ongoing US tariff uncertainties.

“Cost and margin pressure in cropping as input cost inflation has been strong over the past five years while prices for grains, pulses, sugar, and cotton have all moved lower due to strong global supply.”

Mr Vogel said wool prices, following a long period of steady prices, increased substantially in the fourth quarter of the calendar year due to limited Australian supplies.

He said the weakest agricultural sector in 2025 in terms of price were grains and oilseeds, as global supply in 2025 increased due to strong crops in the US, Europe, Russia, South America and Australia.

“Besides the major grain crops, like wheat and barley, more niche crops like lentils, chickpeas and lupins have also faced heavy price pressure in 2025 due to limited import demand from India, the world’s leading importer and at the same time large production expansion across major producing regions including Australia, Canada and Russia,” he said.

Mr Vogel said in terms of production, Western Australia was on the way to collecting a record sized grain crop following very good seasonal weather. However, dry conditions impacted on South Australia.

“South Australia’s crop and feed production still remains behind potential, even so production recovered from last year’s massive drought reduced levels,” Mr Vogel said.

TOP 10 FARMLAND SALES IN 2025

Kooba Aggregation, Griffith, NSW

$500m

31,400ha

Buyer: Australian Food and Fibre (PSP Investments (Canada) and Robinson family), Stahmann Webster (PSP Investments (Canada))

Seller: KoobaCo (PSP Investments (Canada), Chris Corrigan, David Fitzsimons)

Rangers Valley, Glen Innes, NSW

$400m

4856ha

Buyer: Stanbroke Pastoral Company

Seller: Marubeni Corporation (Japan)

Beetaloo Station, NT

$315m

1 million hectares

Buyer: Consolidated Pastoral Company (owned by UK-based Hands Family Office)

Seller: Brett Blundy and the Armstrong family

Millungera station, Far North Qld

$180m (to settle in early 2026)

342,000ha

Buyer: Hughes Grazing/Georgina Pastoral

Seller: Acton Land & Cattle Co.

Two Wells Glasshouse, Two Wells, SA

$168m

166ha

Buyer: Centuria Capital Group

Seller: Fresh Country Farms of Australia (PSP Investments, Canada)

Full story here

Two Wells glasshouse.

Two Wells glasshouse.

McPhee Beef Farms, Walcha, NSW

$150m-plus

8393ha

Buyer: New Forests Australia New Zealand Landscapes and Forestry Fund (50 per cent), New Agriculture Landscape Opportunities Fund (two years to acquire remaining 50 per cent)

Seller: McPhee family (Maria River Cattle Company)

Umbercollie and Jandowae Aggregations, Goodar and Jandowae, Qld

$150m

17,900ha

Buyer: Jandowae: Hancock Agriculture (Gina Rinehart) and Umbercollie (Three local farming families)

Seller: Proterra Investment Partners (US)

Merredin Farms Portfolio, Merredin, WA

Undisclosed

77,954ha

Buyer: Various (including John Nicoletti)

Seller: Saudi Agricultural and Livestock Investment Company Australia (Saudi Arabia)

Aarcturus Downs Portfolio, Springsure, Qld

$120m-plus

34,944ha

Buyer: Gale family (19,343ha Pindari) and Meldora (La Caisse (Canada) and Clean Energy Finance Corporation) (15,601ha Arcturus Downs Aggregation)

Seller: UK investors

Janerin Aggregation, Brookstead, Qld

$75m

2896ha

Buyer: Private family office (via Growth Farms)

Seller: Alexander Woo (Hong Kong)