GV orchards to merge into one company

Turnbull Brothers, Varapodios, M J Hall and Sons and Pickworths orchards all signed contracts last week with a multi-billion-dollar Canadian pension fund which will become a co-investor in the new Pomona Valley business, for an undisclosed investment amount.

The new business will have about 500 hectares of orchards, with a total property size closer to 800 hectares.

Ardmona grower Rocky Varapodio will become the general manager of the single business which is expected to start on July 1, subject to Foreign Investment Review Board approval.

“We’re very excited about this,” Mr Varapodio told Country News.

“This is about growth and looking to the future.”

The venture will bring together two packing sheds, OzPac (Varapodios) and Integrity Fruit (M J Hall and Sons) and allow them to offer buyers greater depth and security in supply.

The discussions have been under way for about 18 months and Mr Varapodio acknowledged it had deliberately been kept confidential because of the sensitive nature of the negotiations.

The four businesses include Oakmoor Orchards, run by Rocky Varapodio, Turnbull Brothers Orchards, run by Chris and Alex Turnbull, Chatswood Farm, run by Peter and Shane Hall, and Pickworth Orchards, run by Stuart Pickworth.

Mr Varapodio said the introduction of an investor would give the new business capital, enabling it to further develop and grow the combined business.

He said the capital could be applied in areas like crop protection; for example, enabling the expansion of new technologies or hail netting.

He said the new partnership provided the scale required to take advantage of growth opportunities in key horticulture sectors, including apples, pears, cherries and stone fruit across domestic and export markets.

The investor is Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan and will be managed by their Australian agriculture arm, AustOn Corporation.

The new business will come into effect on July 1.

He said the consolidation would enable the group to gain better access to export markets.

“It’s about having scale for those export opportunities. But it’s also about being able to service domestic markets a lot better with good, long lines of supply.”

Mr Varapodio said they had looked closely at potential partners and the Ontario group was attractive because of their track record and their position already in agriculture.

“AustOn have said clearly they want to use the local knowledge and skills in the management of the business. They wanted to partner with solid family businesses.”

The merged group is well known to each other, living only a few kilometres apart and in some cases the current directors attended the same schools when they were growing up.

Mr Varapodio said the conversation about a partnership had naturally evolved over the years.

The four orchard families, all third, fourth and fifth generation orchardists, will continue to play a part in the business, with the majority retaining equity in the partnership and holding leadership roles to drive future growth.

Asked about the impact on existing businesses, Mr Varapodio said it would be business as usual in the short term and the intention was to expand the operations in the longer term, which would create stronger job security.

AustOn Corporation chief executive Tim Lee said AustOn was proud to be partnering with local farming families and supporting their shared vision for their future in the horticulture sector.

AustOn employs local teams to manage Aroona Farms, producing almonds in South Australia and Victoria, and Jasper Farms, which produces avocados in Western Australia.

The Ontario group manages pension funds on behalf of about 330,000 current and retired teachers and holds $221 billion in assets and in 2020 recorded a net return to members of 8.6 per cent.

The biggest production crops from the merged business would be (in order) apples, pears, cherries and stone fruit.

Foreign companies generally require foreign investment approval before acquiring an interest in agricultural land, where the cumulative value of their agricultural land holdings exceeds (or would exceed with the proposed investment) $15 million.