Find out more about Clyde Agriculture by reading the brief synopsis below.

1. Business Definition and Legal Entities
2. Philosophy and Broad Strategy
3. Principal Assets and Their Location :: Grazing Properties | Cotton Farms | Cotton Gin
4. Environmental Policy Statement  
    To download a copy of Clyde Agriculture's Environmental, Health and Safety Report 2006, please click here

1. Business Definition and Legal Entities

Clyde Agriculture Limited is a privately owned company which is principally in the business of producing food and fibre. Food production includes wheat, barley, chickpeas, canola, cottonseed, beef, lamb and mutton. Fibre production consists of cotton and wool. With operational headquarters in Bourke, the Company owns and operates nineteen rural holdings/aggregations in northern NSW and Western Queensland upon which these commodities are produced.

Additionally, the Company operates a cotton gin to process its own cotton, as well as that of other growers.

Clyde Agriculture Limited is owned 100% by John Swire & Sons Pty Ltd, the Australian holding company for the UK based Swire Group.

Clyde has two subsidiaries: Darling River Cotton Pty Ltd, which operates the cotton gin at Bourke, and Wesbeef Agencies Pty Ltd, a licensed stock and station agent which operates only on behalf of the parent company.

The Company normally employs approximately 120 permanent staff.

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2. Philosophy and Broad Strategy

Clyde's aim is to take a long term position in Australia's food and natural fibre industries, successfully combining the best traditions of the Australian bush - care of the land its people and its animals - with the sensible use of appropriate modern technology and techniques.

It aims to consistently achieve growing profits, at an acceptable rate of return on the level of assets employed, by:-

• spreading its enterprise mix across cotton, wool, mutton, lamb, beef and cereal/oilseed crops, whilst retaining the benefits of focus/concentration;
• accepting Australia's inherent rainfall variability and cushioning its financial impact by having a geographic spread of holdings across districts with differing rainfall averages and patterns;
• maintaining operational flexibility on the pastoral properties by conservative stocking of core breeding livestock and taking up additional capacity with more flexible (dry) trading stock;
• being at least as efficient as the top 20% of family farmers;
• owning and operating only 'AAA' properties;
• fostering a high level of maintenance, land and animal care, including creating a responsible culture which gives emphasis to the health and safety of employees, and commitment to the principles of ecologically sustainable development;
• having scale in each unit and continually monitoring both the performance of each unit and the individual activity performance within each unit;
• employing quality management at all levels;
• minimising bureaucracy and overheads;
• concentrating on being large scale family farmers and resisting proposals to extend into processing;
• accepting that it is largely in the commodity business, and thus subject to volatile markets and long term adverse price trends;
• cushioning the impact of price volatility and the cost/price squeeze by
  • the commodity spread referred to above;
  • applying the benefits available from scientific and technological developments to produce quality produce at the lowest possible unit cost (most commonly by increasing "yields");
  • flexibly marketing its produce by taking full advantage of pricing opportunities as they occur, separating the functions of pricing and delivery and utilising forward physical pricing and other risk management mechanisms.

Production decisions are always made against the background of the need to protect, if not enhance, the resource base for the benefit of future generations.

The Company strives to adhere to the Swire Group ethos of always taking the long term view, and being mindful of the Group motto - "Esse Quam Videri" ("to be rather than to seem to be").

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3. Principal Assets and Their Location

The Company's principal assets and their location are as follows:

*** Where Cotton Farms are within the boundaries of grazing holdings, the area is included in the grazing holding.
(1) These properties are run in conjunction, as single units.
(2) These properties are run in conjunction, as single units.
(3) There are 6.13 hectares of Chardonnay grapes on Ferguson.

These irrigated cotton farms produce between 50,000 and 65,000 bales of high quality cotton lint, and 16,000 to 20,000 tonnes of cottonseed annually.

The Company adopts a rotation policy of two years in cotton then one year out - possibly sown to wheat for its agronomic benefit. Developed land is laser levelled to a slope of 1 in 2,000.

Water storage capacity is 69,400 megalitres with the aim being to have available 8.75 megalitres per sown hectare. The largest single storage is Janbeth which has a capacity of 13,300 megalitres, and covers an area of 360 hectares, with 9.4 kilometres of storage wall. Evaporation rates amount to 1.8 metres per annum.

Pumping from the Barwon/Darling is limited, inter alia, to times of substantial river flows and is governed by simultaneous river heights at both up and downstream gauges.

Cotton Gin

The cotton gin is located at Bourke, and has an annual and seasonal capacity of 60,000 to 70,000 bales. The gin is a "combined gin" in that it incorporates both a conventional saw-tooth section, with three Continental Eagle gin stands, and a roller gin for the processing of extra long staple 'Pima' cotton.

The two sections share common infrastructure, including a modern high density press.

Stations

The Stations normally run 129,000 breeding ewes (119,000 Merino, 10,000 first cross), 36,000 wethers, 12,650 breeding cows and 6,500 steers. These, together with lambs, ewe weaners, calves and heifers, result in sheep numbers peaking at around 350,000 head and cattle at around 36,000 head.

Some 30,000 hectares are designated for winter crop production, including some country in a lucerne rotation. Crops grown include wheat (with the aim of producing prime hard high protein grades), canola, chickpeas and barley. Considerations in determining crop type or fallow, centre on moisture, nutrient, disease and economic factors. Total annual grain, oilseed and pulse production can be as high as 60,000 tonnes.

Livestock Carrying Capacity

(1) Includes Longmeadows
(2) Includes Janbeth
(3) Border Leicester/Merino cross ewes

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4. Environmental Policy Statement

Environmental responsibility is a key goal of Clyde Agriculture. The Company aims to utilise natural resources in a thoughtful and efficient way. Efficient use of resources includes preserving and, where possible, enhancing their value for the future. Natural resources integral to our farming and grazing operations include soil, water, vegetation, native fauna and air.

Clyde Agriculture aims to:

• Employ advanced farming practices which will maintain and improve soil quality, so this fundamental resource may be passed on to future generations.
• Utilise water resources, such as riverine irrigation extractions and artesian bores, in a way that recognises and accepts the interests of other users, including the community at large. The Company will observe regulations and actively seek to improve storage and distribution techniques to improve water use efficiency and thus minimise wastage.
• Be a good neighbour by observing careful and prudent chemical application practices on crops and grazing areas. The Company will actively pursue techniques to reduce chemical use where practicable. Regulations governing chemical use will be observed at all times.
• Give full consideration to the aesthetic appeal of developments.
• Control feral wildlife populations (which are detrimental to other natural resources), consistent with regulations.

Clyde Agriculture has great pride in the history and character of its properties and the commitment and skills of the people within the Company. Clyde has a long term commitment to Australian agriculture and firmly believes its future success is integrally linked with the preservation of our environmental base.

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