RMWilliams Agricultural Holdings, who we are today and
where do we see ourselves in five years
Members of the Rural Press Club, invited guests and Ladies
and Gentleman, thank you for inviting me here today and
giving me the opportunity to talk to you about RMWAH,
what we stand for and where we as a company hope to be in
five years’ time.
RMWAH was formed in 2009, is a privately owned
Australian company which owns and operates a diversified
and strategic portfolio of agricultural assets. The company’s
business focus is on food production, primarily protein and
aims to incorporate carbon enhanced returns, alternative
energy solutions and best environmental and biodiversity
practice. Based on this the company has over the past four
years strategically acquired prime Australian agricultural
properties with the intention of becoming a leading vertically
integrated Australian business.
In an attempt to address our core principles of sustainable
agriculture supported by sound environmental practice the
strategy has been diversification both regionally and business
wise. Our business portfolio incorporates
 An organic model embracing the production of organic
cereals, organic beef and poultry with a developed
vertically integrated supply chain. This includes
processing and marketing. These assets are based in
Queensland.
 Beef, based predominantly on live export. These assets
are Northern territory based.
 Carbon, RMWAH has a large high quality land bank
which contains significant carbon potential allowing the
company to leaverage growing global demand for
sustainably produced carbon credits. This core business
exists predominantly in the Northern Territory.
 Environmental, the company has a sound environmental
policy in place employing an environmental officer
responsible for the control and management of
introduced weed species (Mimosa) and Feral animal
eradication, incorporating land management in the form
of erosion and land degradation.
 Tourism, an opportunity that has arisen from the
uniqueness of the assets we hold, the ability for
RMWAH to share these with the public and at the same
time generate awareness to sustainable agriculture.
Tourism feeds off and supports our sound environmental
strategy.
Organics
RMWAH core business within Organics is the vertically
integrated Inglewood Farms, Australia’s largest organic
poultry producer. Being the third largest organic poultry
producer in the world, Inglewood Farms commands 80% of
the Australian domestic market and is in the process of
developing a largely untapped organic market in South East
Asia and the Middle East. Since the acquisition of Inglewood
Farms by RMWAH in early 2009, production has doubled
placing increasing pressure on existing organic assets such as
Mirage Plains which was purchased for the production and
supply of organic cereals used in Inglewood Farms and the
development of branded beef and lamb production.
Consequently, the changes in economies of scale and a review
of the organic company’s resource requirements has led to the
proposed restructuring of the business and potential selling of
the Mirage Plains conglomeration. In principle this will free
up capital allowing further development within the poultry
business, enabling strategic asset development supporting the
production base and improving bottom line profits.
Inglewood Farms has outgrown the potential for Mirage
Plains to supply adequate volumes of organic cereals for its
use in the poultry business with percentage contribution
dropping from 60% to 20% at best. Strategically we look to
reducing risk in this area and will be targeting supply
contracts with dedicated organic producers.
RMWAH involvement in Organics, in particular poultry
enables us to remain key players in a niche market, with a
vertically integrated supply chain based on protein
production; the organic concept fits well with our
environmental credentials and sustainable agriculture. It
differentiates us from our competitors and other producers and
gives us a point of difference.
Beef
RMWAH owns two Northern territory cattle stations being
Labelle Downs (60300ha) and Welltree (31100ha). The
properties share common boundaries and are considered “blue
chip” finishing properties due to a large percentage of flood
plain country. At time of purchase these properties were run
as breeder stations which limited production and turnoff. The
company’s strategy over time has been to change this
becoming predominantly a finishing block ensuring greater
carrying capacities and cash flow focused returns. The model
relies heavily on the Live Export trade and we will over time
be looking at ways of reducing this reliance.
Strategically these properties are well placed with close
proximity to market and having all weather access allows the
ability to tap into higher seasonal prices during the wet
season.
These two properties lend themselves to Tourism and it is
here that we have developed low key operations allowing
access to some of the best fresh water fishing in the Top end
along with opportunity to experience blue water charters, eco
tours, photographic safaris along with the operations of a
working cattle station.
Labelle Downs and Welltree stations play a pivotal role in our
sound environmental strategy with ecologically sensitive areas
within the properties being isolated and protected.
Carbon
In June 2011 RMWAH purchased Henbury Station in
partnership with the Federal government for the purpose of
developing a Carbon model, which will provide the
methodology and ability for other Agriculturalists to access
the carbon market should they desire. Henbury is considered a
one off opportunity and RMWAH has no plan to replicate
this. Whilst the acquisition of Henbury and the removal of
cattle from the property is seen as contentious in some
quarters it is important to note that the model does not
advocate the locking up of land and the removal of cattle in
the future. This is a once off project and to develop the
methodology and integrity behind the model the removal of
livestock was necessary. Henbury was also strategically
targeted for its phenomenal biodiversity and historic land
management issues (EMU – Ecosystem Management
Understanding).
RMWAH believes that should the concept be approved and
accepted the Henbury project will pave the way for other
pastoralists to utilise undeveloped and or excess land for the
sale of carbon and ultimately allow alternate income streams.
We believe that this can be achieved with the simultaneous
production of cattle and other enterprises.
Whilst Henbury has become an extremely high profile project
the intention is to simply develop a Carbon model that has
integrity and offers opportunity for the company to leverage
growing demand for sustainably produced carbon credits.
Where does RMWAH see itself in five years’ time?
In principle we are a young company and have experienced
the usual growing pains, as is expected this has been
exacerbated by the recent GFC and current vagaries
associated with agricultural trends and prices. Added to this
the ability to resource our assets with adequate management
and technical expertise in a labour market where key
personnel are in high demand has been limiting. Having said
this we have come a long way, however, more importantly we
have grown steadily year on year and are now facing a period
of stabilisation and what I would term “bedding down our
assets”.
RMWAH aspires to be a well-balanced diversified
agricultural company with its core business being protein
production, 90% of our deployable capital is invested in the
area. We believe in maximising returns from our assets and
resources providing they are sustainable and meet our
environmental criteria. We will attempt to leverage
sustainably produced carbon credits and hopefully achieve
this in conjunction with our core business.
Further growth within RMWAH and the acquisition of further
assets will rely on successful corporate investment and our
ability to attract interested partners. This will be challenging
considering perceived issues associated with corporate
investment in agribusiness. Past history has shown that
agricultural investment can be risky with low returns, the
vagaries of climatic effects and fluctuating commodity prices
make long term modelling difficult not to mention the strong
Australian Dollar. We see the following challenges for
corporate investment in agriculture,
 Land ownership, foreign or Australian. This needs to be
managed carefully.
 Integrity in the investment, are production levels
achievable and are the standards and quality what we say
they are?
 Management, I believe this to be one of the most
important factors affecting corporate investment; is their
investment safe and in the hands of competent
agriculturalists with adequate business experience. Too
many agricultural companies lack these skills and are
unable to cross the divide between reality and corporate
demands. We need to ensure the next generation has
these skills.
 Stability, both from a policy perspective (government)
and sound business modelling with realistic expectations
leading to reasonable returns on investment.
For us to be successful in the growth of the company we will
address these.
In Organics
We aim to grow the domestic market making the product
more affordable for the average consumer by improving
efficiencies and developing key assets. We intend to further
develop the export market utilising surplus product, in
particular Hong Kong, Singapore and the Middle East with a
long term focus on the Chinese market. We have proven that
we are capable of taking the business from Paddock to Plate;
we have a state of the art Poultry abattoir and processing plant
with capacity to further double our production plus introduce
value adding to our stable of products.
Key for RMWAH is to remain industry leaders in this field, to
ensure this we must move with the times and be prepared to
embrace new technology and market demands. If this means
strategically exiting some assets to better utilise capital then
these decisions will be addressed by the company in time.
In Beef
Beef production is core to our business; we see this as stable
with unlimited option for growth and development. We
continue to see live export as being an important factor in our
business but believe that to be truly successful and risk averse
we need to see alternative opportunities arise in the Northern
territory. The construction of an abattoir and processing
facility appears essential for this diversification to occur. We
intend to develop our beef model using existing properties to
finish cattle targeting specific markets, added to this we intend
developing strategic supply chains for the supply of feeder
cattle allowing consistent numbers and quality.
We see further value adding of beef, branding of product and
exclusive market opportunities as being important. We will
leverage our existing retail platform in order to achieve this,
including exports.
In Carbon
We will continue to develop our carbon model around
Henbury, but as I said before we do not anticipate further
acquisitions. Recent changes in management and company
structure will not affect the progress of this project; in fact, we
believe the restructure will enhance credibility and if anything
lend weight and integrity to our proposal. We intend to
actively manage the property and its assets internally with a
competent management team, which will be responsible for
maintaining the property and its assets, feral animal and
invasive weed control, maintenance (such as fence lines and
roads and implementation of a strategic fire management
plan). Added to this the management team will be responsible
for facilitating the requirements associated with the
development of the methodology.
The Carbon Project will be managed through our strategic
partner and shareholder, C – Quest Capital which continues to
give RMWAH unparalleled access to industry-leading carbon
experience and knowledge. C – Quest Capital, is headed by
Mr Ken Newcombe, the pioneer and developer of the global
carbon market who established the World Banks Prototype
Carbon Fund. Ken also set up the Goldman Sach’s US Carbon
Business and is former Vice Chairman of Climate Change
Capital. Ken is an Australian National with a rural backround;
he holds a doctorate in energy and natural resource
management from the Australian National University and
training in Business Management at Harvard Business School.
We envisage continued momentum in this project and see
deadlines being met as committed to. RMWAH continues to
work with all vested and interested parties.
In summing up we see exciting opportunities for the next five
years,
 Firstly, Protein production across all sectors being both
meat and cereals, ensuring production security and
developing all sections of the business to it’s full
potential. We see beef in the Northern territory
contributing to this.
 Secondly, completing the Henbury Model, this will
occur within planned timeframes as we continue to work
with vested stake holders.
 Thirdly, to reconnect as a company with the rural sector
and agricultural industry. We have always been
associated with the bush and intend to develop this
association further.
We are an agricultural company first and foremost and hope
that in years to come what we achieve now will impact
positively on the next generation engendering a desire in
young people to enter the rural industry, to protect it and
manage it for further generations.
Thank you.