Fruit

A confluence of events could lead to increased food scarcity in 2023, with knock-on effects for prices and an increase in the attractiveness of controlled environment production in hot countries.

Sundrop Farms will be the second asset in the Centuria Agriculture Fund, joining a glasshouse estate previously owned by Roc Partners’ Flavorite.

We hear from AppHarvest, Plenty, Astanor Ventures and an ETH Zurich researcher about how the industry is measuring up against its goal of sustainably contributing to feeding a growing global population.

The Premium Food Fund has made five investments to date and is 40% committed, with another two or three deals over the next two years set to take it to full deployment.

To launch its first unlisted diversified fund, Duxton Capital, which has more than A$900m of AUM in agriculture, will build on a seed investment from an Australian institution.

Strong commodity prices and relatively cheap water make it a ‘good time’ to be an irrigated producer in Australia, goFARM’s Liam Lenaghan says.

Retail prices for avocados in Australia are tracking 47% below the five-year average thanks to an oversupply following large harvests in 2021-22.

The two foundation assets for the Warakirri Farmland Fruit are stone fruit orchards that will be leased to WF Montague under a 20-year agreement.

OTPP’s AustOn will manage the new entity, known as Pomona Valley, with input from the current owners of the orchards.

Investors Mutual, which holds a 3.6% stake in Vitalharvest, has expressed concern about the value of MIRA’s bid for Vitalharvest, alleging a lack of transparency.