Australia: Goulburn Valley orchards are ripe for the picking

A group of Goulburn Valley fruit growers in Victoria have joined forces in a remarkable sale of their family orchards. Jason Hellyer from Ray White says it is "one of Victoria's most significant orchard aggregation transactions in many years". The suggested selling price for the entire portfolio is $25 million-$27.5 million. Taking in a combined 354 hectares (875 acres), the portfolio of orchards delivers around 28,150 bins of premium quality pome and stone fruit annually, or more than 11 million kilograms of fruit. Fruit grown on these five Shepparton district family farms is sent to domestic and international markets and include apples, pears, apricots, cherries and plums from more than 100,000 trees. The orchards are located in the Shepparton East, Bunbartha, Orrvale, Merrigum, Nathalia and Kyabram districts. The big sale includes a 5000 square metre warehouse with 4310 bin cool store capacity. Together the orchards have 1811 megalitres of high and low security irrigation water ...