John Nicoletti sells Gingin farm to buy more Wheatbelt farms

WA grain king John Nicoletti is already churning his newly acquired farm property portfolio by listing his 1000ha Gingin farm for sale and eyeing others in the central and eastern Wheatbelt. The property was recently put on the market, with an expression of interest campaign run by Nutrien Harcourts. As previously reported by WestBusiness, Mr Nicoletti bought the Gingin (Beermullah) farm in April 2019 for $5.25 million, as part of a $30m farm-buying spree. With big parcels of productive land close to Perth becoming extremely rare, Mr Nicoletti said he felt it was an opportune time to sell. “There’s extremely strong demand for farmland in that neck of the woods. I’m hoping to pick up a reasonable profit,” he said. Mr Nicoletti said he would reinvest the cash elsewhere in WA farms and was eyeing a number of big aggregations in the central and eastern Wheatbelt. Once the biggest owner of Wheatbelt land, Mr Nicoletti last year sold his massive 200,000ha eastern Wheatbelt farm to the Saudi Agricultural and Livestock Investment Company for $65-$70m. The sale included machinery and 40,000 sheep. Despite saying he was retiring from farming at the time, Mr Nicoletti went on to buy five multimillion-dollar properties over 26,000ha stretching from Borden to Gingin, across to the central and eastern Wheatbelt. As well as the Gingin property, he paid $2.2m for a property in Cleary, in the Shire of Mt Marshall, followed by a $6.7m purchase in nearby Tampu. Mr Nicoletti also paid $8.3m for a farm at Hyden and $9.6m for one at Borden. Mr Nicoletti’s Ag Implements business, comprising six John Deere dealerships in the Wheatbelt, has also been listed for sale. It is expected to fetch between $30m and $40m, with a management buyout being the most likely outcome.