The main incentive for the emerging agricultural holdings is the capital owners’ desire to increase their capital in the long term. This is the main incentive for business entities to work in market economy conditions.
Making a profit and capitalizing on it is just a way to increase capital. Meanwhile, the cost of capital invested in agribusiness is growing today and can grow in the long term due to:
- favorable market conditions in the world and domestic markets for agricultural and food products;
- profits increase from activities by reducing the cost of raw materials due to the integration of agricultural business and industrial processing of products;
- low labor costs;
- low rent for land;
- tax optimization;
- subsidies from the state budget for the development of the agricultural sector;
- legal accumulation of large-scale leased land tracts.
- purchase of land with the possibility of further resale due to functioning of the agricultural land market;
- legal liberty to resell businesses, the value of which may increase significantly in a few years.
It should also be noted that the largest agricultural holdings in the world are most often based in countries with a large territory like Australia, Russia, the USA, China, etc. We collected information from various sources on the world’s largest players in the agricultural sector and systematized all available data
An interesting fact is that the first four leading positions are occupied by Australian companies, which is quite obvious. Their sphere of influence is a whole continent with impressive arable land.
Kidman & Co Ltd
The undisputed leader in the company was created by one of the ancestors of the famous Hollywood star Nicole Kidman. At the moment, the holding is considered one of the largest beef producers in Australia. The total livestock of the company is more than 170 thousand heads. Land plots are located in three states of Australia. The total area of cultivated fields is 8 million hectares. This is an absolute world record.
The agricultural holding was founded back in 1899 by Sidney Kidman. At the moment, the largest Australian holding in agriculture is owned by Gina Reinhart. Australia’s richest woman also owns the iron ore company Hancock Prospecting in addition to land and livestock.
Australian Agricultural Company
The largest agricultural holdings in Australia go toe-to-toe in the world ranking. In second place is the Australian Agricultural Company, which has a land bank of about 7 million hectares.
This holding is deservedly considered the leading beef producer not only in the country but also in the world. Dry facts confirm this — the total herd is more than 500 thousand heads of cattle.
The company was founded back in 1824 and for almost 200 years of its existence has managed to achieve such impressive results. As for the territorial location of the holdings, most of them are located in Queensland and the Northern Territory.
At the moment, all these resources are managed by British billionaire Joe Lewis. This person is considered the largest investor in the Tavistock Group. This group owns more than two hundred different enterprises in 10 countries of the world. At the same time, the company’s business portfolio is multifaceted:
- medical equipment;
- financial firms;
- oil and gas enterprises;
- energy companies;
- catering networks;
- commercial real estate;
- health resorts in different regions of the world.
Considering this diversity, it becomes clear that the agrarian giant is in good hands and is showing excellent growth rates.
North Australian Pastoral (NAPCO)
This Australian company closes the top three and looks like a real giant. Its land bank is 6.1 million hectares of land. It is noteworthy that such a major player in the market is not privately owned. It is controlled by the state-owned corporation QIC Limited, which is headquartered in Queensland.
The company was founded in 1877. At the moment, it occupies a leading position in beef production in the country. That is not inferior to its prime competitors. The average livestock raised by the company is about 200 thousand head of cattle.
We pay tribute to this agricultural holding also since it allocated about 200 thousand hectares of land to create its territorial reserve. This is an example of how business interests can be ideally combined with the desire to preserve and protect the world around us from unbridled industrialization.
United Pastoral Company (CPC)
Another representative of the Australian agrarian and industrial complex owns a land bank of 5.5 million hectares. The company’s activities began in 1860, but current activities started in 1983. This is due to the merger of the Ashburton Pastoral Company and Newcastle Waters Station took place.
The company’s land is located in Western Australia, Queensland, and the Northern Territory. The total livestock number exceeds 380,000 heads. That is why the holding is ranked among the leading beef producers in the region.
Besides Australian territories, the agricultural holding also owns 80 percent of the shares of the Indonesian company Juang Jaya Abdi Alam (JJAA), which has two farms with total cattle of about 35.5 thousand heads.
At the same time, 90% of the holding’s shares are owned by Terra Firma from the UK. The main owner of the company can be considered the famous British financier Guy Hands. But this did not stop the CEO of the company from appointing managers of the indigenous Australians who are well versed in the agricultural sector.
Beidahuang Group
The Chinese manufacturer completes a kind of Australian expansion and is confidently in the top five. The total area of the company’s cultivated land is about 5.4 million hectares, which are used in a variety of ways, repeating the ideology of the largest agricultural holdings of the Russian Federation:
- rice fields;
- more than 100 farms;
- large-scale flour production;
- dairy companies;
- fat and oil plants, etc.
It is also noteworthy that all the company lands are scattered on three continents at once — in China, Australia, and South America. It should be noted that the company is quite young since it was founded in 1998 and for 20 years has managed to enter the top five world leaders.
