$41m for top farm — take it or leave it,

A Kuwaiti businessman has put a $41 million price tag on what is arguably WA’s finest farm and given potential buyers 72 hours to take it or leave it.

Yacoub Yousef Al-Homaizi set the sale deadline on Yathroo, near Dandaragan, as he prepares to exit the sheep industry more than 20 years after buying the farm from Alan Bond.

It is understood the race to secure Yathroo is down to three and includes local interests.

Elders real estate executive Malcolm French said the move was unusual but would allow the interested parties to put their cards on the table.

“Mr Al-Homaizi wants to bring the matter to a head,” he said. “He is saying there is my price and you have three days from Saturday to deal with it.”

The Al-Homaizi Group has used the farm for cropping and to breed fat-tailed sheep for export, but it is suitable for cattle.

The departure of a major overseas investor comes as the State Government moves to help others find a way into agriculture through the $20 million WA open for business initiative.

It is using Royalties for Regions funding to set up a trade office within the Department of Regional Development.

Regional Development Minister Terry Redman said WA would need up to $6 billion in investment over the next decade to double the value of sales in the agrifood sector. Mr Redman said the investors knocking on WA’s door wanted quality advice that carried the stamp of government and often needed their eyes opened to alternatives to buying land, such as long-term supply agreements with local farmers.

The timing of the DRD trade office announcement raised eyebrows in the sector. It came a day after Premier Colin Barnett announced he was shifting Department of Agriculture and Food WA boss Rob Delane into a new agribusiness unit in the Department of State Development that would focus on trade.