Gina Rinehart’s Hancock Agriculture purchases Split Rock Dairy
Australia’s richest person, Gina Rinehart, has added another asset to her reshaped rural property portfolio, snapping up a 1980ha northern NSW dairy.
Hancock Agriculture has purchased the Split Rock Dairy, located north of Manila near Tamworth in northeast NSW, the company announced in a statement.
Details of the off-market sale remain confidential, but it is understood the Split Rock Dairy property will complement other backgrounding properties within the Hancock Agriculture portfolio.
Spilt Rock Dairy, to be named Buena Vista, was owned in an equity partnership which included three investors and Australian dairy industry champion Robert Cooper.
The original farm was owned by three brothers, before they and Mr Cooper started a new company 10 years ago.
Spilt Rock Dairy was expanded during their tenure from 1400ha to 3230ha, increasing cow numbers from 400 to 1200. The property includes irrigated and dryland cropping with 366ha under irrigation via 11 pivots.
“The purchase of this property is consistent with the Hancock Agriculture strategy of acquiring properties to support growth in our annual turn-off of 2GR branded Fullblood and Pure Bred Wagyu. We thank the vendor for facilitating the sales process and we wish them well,” Hancock Agriculture said in a statement.
Tallis Miles, The Weekly Times, 28 November 2023.
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Revealed: The 13 farm machinery scam websites stealing millions from Aussies
Details of more than 10 active online farm machinery scam websites have been revealed as Aussie farmers continue to be caught out by sophisticated thieves.
More buyers have come forward, with a Mornington Peninsula farmer recently losing $21,000 to a tractor scam.
Richard Buriss, from Balnarring, said he was scammed by so-called Devon Farming in April.
Mr Buriss said he was frustrated the Devon Farming website was still online even after he had reported the scam to Report Cyber-crime.
“It is galling to see, and it is rubbing salt in the $21,000 wound, that these scammers are still online,” he said.
“They are still there with the same address, same phone number and same bank account details.
“Why can’t they shut them down?”
Mr Buriss is in his mid-70s and works and lives on his property at Balnarring.
He said he spoke to the scammers on the phone while organising what he thought was a purchase. The online thieves had set up a sophisticated operation, posing as a legitimate company, he said.
Even after being reported, some scammers continue to operate after redesigning their website, changing their name but keeping the same online address.
As more and more stories emerge of scam victims losing thousands of dollars, The Weekly Times has compiled a list of more than 10 machinery scam websites that are active or have been recently active:
13 farm machinery scams to watch out for:
www.ainsliefarms.com – Ainslie Farms
https://www.all-states-machinery.com – All States Machinery
www.altoequipment.com – Alto Equipment
www.auheavymachinery.com – AU Heavy Machinery
www.btfarmingltd.com – B&T Farming
https://bigred-tractors.com – Big Red Tractors
www.blandequipment.com – Bland Equipment
www.boramachinery.com – Bora Machinery
www.brheavyequipment.com – BR Heavy Equipment
https://devonfarmmachinery.com – Devon Farming
www.kymachineryltd.com – KY Machinery
www.plantconstructions.com – Plant Constructions
www.sandalwoodequipment.com – Sandalwood Equipment
In the past 12 months, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission’s annual Targeting Scams report showed Australians lost more than $1.5 million to scammers targeting the agriculture industry.
Scamwatch received 313 tractors and other agricultural machinery scam reports in the past 12 months, totalling $1.4m.
The Weekly Times last month reported fake company Big Red Tractors was running an online tractor scam claiming it was based in the small northern Victoria town of Cohuna.
Earlier this year Western District farmers Katherine and Greg Stephens lost $17,000 in an online farm machinery scam through fraudulent seller All States Machinery.
Melbourne-based Andy Knight also lost $13,000 after he tried to purchase a secondhand tractor from All States Machinery too.