Mackay Farming Group is selling its major Far North Queensland banana and tropical fruit business, which includes nine premium farms across the Tully and Lakeland regions.
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The premium horticultural business that produces about 13 per cent of Australia's bananas, which is distributed through the major supermarket chains.
Mackay Farming Group chief executive officer Alex Hutton said the Tully farms underpinned the operation, with Gold Tyne in the Lakeland region established as part of a risk mitigation strategy.
"This has provided a unique balance capitalising on ideal growing conditions across two regions with the security of mitigating biosecurity risks and having a much higher likelihood of production being uninterrupted in the case of extreme weather events to which the traditional coastal production areas are occasionally prone," Mr Hutton said.
"We have a strong commitment to sustainable farming practices, working with nature whenever possible to protect the environment, optimising nutrition, and plant health."
Mr Hutton said the farms were currently being audited to ensure carbon sequestration strategies were delivering optimal results.
He said surplus banana production was also not wasted, with the installation of a freezing operation in Tully, which processed an increasing volume of packed, frozen bananas.
"This integrated operation ships processed goods to a new customer base which has been developed in recent years," Mr Hutton said.
Mackay's Marketing, which was established more than 20 years ago, is not included in the portfolio.
Mackay's Marketing was set up to manage the logistics from the farm gate direct to major retail partners, Coles, Woolworths and more recently to Aldi.
The business also provides marketing services to other large family-owned producers in FNQ, in addition to managing the supply chain for Mackay's farms.
Marketing agent Chris Holgar, JLL Agribusiness, said the Mackay family was synonymous with horticulture in Far North Queensland, with Stanley Mackay planting his first crop of bananas in 1945.
"The Mackay family has strategically amassed nine individual land holdings for banana production and other tropical fruits such as red papaya, coffee, and cacao and other crops now being introduced," Mr Holgar said.
"In addition to fruit production, large scale sugarcane plantings and a complementary beef cattle enterprise are included."
Mackay Farming Group is being sold through an expressions of interest process and is expected to make about $180 million.
Contact Chris Holgar, 0411 177 167, Geoff Warriner, 0408 687 880, Clayton Smith, 0428 878 523, or Jock Grimshaw, 0488 191 840, JLL Agribusiness.
