Australian agriculture M&A activity has reached its most active period in a decade, per a new Morgan Business Sales report.
BRISBANE, QLD, AUSTRALIA, April 15, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ — Australia’s agriculture sector produced a gross value of $100.3 billion in FY2024–25, the second highest on record, and ABARES is forecasting a record $107.4 billion for FY2025–26, according to the 2026 Australian Agriculture Sector M&A Overview published by Morgan Business Sales in March 2026. Agricultural exports are projected to reach $80.5 billion in FY2025–26, underscoring the sector’s deepening integration with global food supply chains.
The report identifies three landmark transactions that defined Australia’s agricultural M&A landscape in 2025. KKR acquired ProTen, Australia’s largest contract chicken grower with more than 700 broiler sheds across 60 farms in five states, for approximately A$1.3 billion. Bunge Global completed its US$8.2 billion global merger with Viterra, bringing 17 Australian grain handling and storage facilities into Bunge’s network. Cargill completed a full acquisition of Teys Australia in November 2025, consolidating ownership of seven beef processing plants from the founding Teys family joint venture.
Institutional appetite for Australian agricultural assets extended well beyond those headline deals. Canadian pension fund PSP Investments acquired the Kooba Aggregation in western New South Wales — a diversified cotton, cropping, livestock and almond portfolio — for approximately A$500 million. Stanbroke Pastoral Company acquired the Rangers Valley grain-fed beef and feedlot operation in northern New South Wales for around A$400 million. An undisclosed institutional acquirer completed an off-market multi-state agricultural property portfolio transaction valued at approximately A$444 million in December 2025.
Morgan Business Sales attributes the surge in deal activity to five structural value drivers: export market integration, scale and operational efficiency, water security, environmental and sustainability credentials, and management depth and operational independence. The report notes that export market access is the single most powerful valuation driver, with businesses holding verified export relationships commanding materially higher multiples than domestically focused peers.
Water entitlements are identified as a distinct and growing asset class, representing 20 to 40 percent of enterprise value in irrigated farming businesses. Under the Australian Carbon Credit Unit framework, carbon farming is also creating new value layers for landholders, with ABARES projecting agricultural revenue to grow 39 percent between 2025 and 2050 as carbon sequestration offsets an estimated two percent displacement of primary production.
A succession crisis is amplifying deal supply across the sector. The average Australian farm operator is 57 years old, and more than 50 percent of farm businesses have no documented succession plan, according to the National Farmers’ Federation. This demographic pressure, combined with moderating farmland prices — national median values fell six percent in 2024 after rising 79 percent between 2019 and 2023 — is bringing a substantial pipeline of family-held businesses to market.
North American institutional investors are the most active category of foreign buyers. Foreign-owned agricultural land reached 49.12 million hectares in 2024, the first increase in two years. Australian broadacre farmland continues to trade at a significant discount to comparable land in Europe and the United States, a factor cited in the report as a persistent driver of offshore institutional interest.
The report assesses the M&A pipeline for 2026 as the strongest the sector has seen in a decade, with deal flow expected across broadacre cropping aggregations, premium horticulture, beef and pastoral assets, aquaculture, and agri-processing. More than 85,000 agricultural businesses operate nationally, providing a substantial universe of potential transactions at every scale.
The full report is available at: https://morganbusinesssales.com/2026-australian-agriculture-sector-ma-overview/
ABOUT MORGAN BUSINESS SALES
Morgan Business Sales is an Australian mergers and acquisitions advisory firm specialising in the sale, acquisition and valuation of privately held businesses across key sectors including agriculture, food and beverage, manufacturing and industrials, and services. The firm advises owners, buyers and institutional investors across the full transaction lifecycle, from preparation and marketing through to settlement. Morgan Business Sales publishes regular sector M&A overviews drawing on proprietary deal data and primary research.
Learn more about Morgan Business Sales by visiting their website here: https://morganbusinesssales.com
Dru Morgan
Morgan Business Sales
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