Home Hill cane farm hits the market

A LARGE allocation of water and fine alluvial soils are among the features of a Home Hill cane farm which is being offered for sale by private treaty through Colliers Townsville.

The offering comes at a time when sugar prices are high and cane farms are tightly held.

But in this case, Colliers associate director Angelo Castorina said one of the reasons for offering the farm for sale was that the owners were looking to retirement.

The 118.83ha farm is on Kirknie Rd, Osborne, about 15km from Home Hill, and is on the banks of the Burdekin River with a water board channel traversing the property.

The Burdekin district is one of Australia’s key agricultural centres and premium sugar cane growing areas, containing four Wilmar sugar mills.

The district has access to the huge water resources of the Burdekin Falls Dam as well as the underground water table.

Mr Castorina said one of the big features of the property was its water allocation and the quality and quantity of that allocation. It includes 790 megalitres from Sunwater and 800 megalitres from the Lower Burdekin water board.

He said it was a significant allocation, while its cost was also very low compared with water in the Upper Haughton area on the northern side of the Burdekin.

“Another feature of the property is its very good soils,” Mr Castorina said.

The farm has averaged production of 11,700 tonnes of cane over the past 10 years with an average Commercial Cane Sugar or sugar content of 13.72 and an average production of 124.51 tonnes per hectare.

The property has seven pumps, including three powered by solar panel systems, about 3.8km of underground pipes, 11 cylinder outlets and nine hydrants.