James Powell, the General Manager – Investor Relations, Corporate Affairs and Sustainability for Rural Funds Group (ASX:RFF), discusses the company’s strategy and investment proposition. Rural Funds develops and improves agricultural assets across cattle, almonds, macadamias, cotton and vineyards to enhance productivity and secure long-term leases. James outlines examples where RFF has converted or upgraded farms, such as transforming sugarcane land into 40-year leased macadamia orchards, expanding irrigation and water points on cattle properties, and upgrading cotton operations to increase irrigated output. These improvements lift yields, asset value and future rental income.
James also emphasises technology as a major driver of long-term farmland performance, noting RFF’s use of autonomous tractors, orchard data networks, precision cotton-planting systems, satellite biomass monitoring, and automated cattle weighing and supplementation. These tools aim to reduce production costs and improve operational efficiency, supporting the broader investment thesis that farmland tends to outperform inflation and agricultural commodities over time.
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