Agricultural finance in North Queensland.

North Queensland grows a remarkable share of the country's food. It produces around 96% of Queensland's sugar cane, the crop running from Ingham up to Cairns and down through the Burdekin and Mackay, and roughly 94% of Australia's bananas come out of the Innisfail and Tully districts. Add 68% of the nation's macadamias, most of its sweetcorn and a large share of its lemons and limes, plus around 45% of Queensland's cattle herd, and it is one of the broadest agricultural regions in the country. More than 122,000 hectares sit under irrigation.

That diversity cuts both ways. Cane, horticulture and cattle each cash flow on a different clock, seasonal and weather-exposed, and the region carries real cyclone and flood risk on top. Banks price all of that conservatively, cap loan-to-value ratios on rural and horticultural security, and move slowly. A private ag lender that actually reads the enterprise, rather than a bank template, is often the only way a grower gets the crop in or the cattle bought before the window closes.

The mix here, cane and fruit and cattle, is what shapes the finance. Seasonal facilities carry the cost of a cane or horticulture crop, where the money goes out months before the mill or the packer pays, and clear once it is sold. Livestock finance funds cattle to 100% of purchase, secured against the stock and repaid at sale.

Farmland and grazing sit on term finance to around 65% of value, with more for development and improvements, and the seasonal and term lines can run together rather than competing.

We are based on the Gold Coast and arrange finance for producers across North Queensland, from the cane and cattle around Townsville, Ingham and the Burdekin to the horticulture on the Atherton Tablelands and around Innisfail and Tully. The lender's valuer works the property on the ground; we run the deal from here.