Prime Super has provided super and retirement solutions to Australians for more than 20 years. From beginnings in rural Australia, the fund has expanded to represent a diverse range of workers across multiple industries. It has a long and strong relationship with all the state farming bodies as well as the national peak farming body, the National Farmers Federation, and the union that represents workers in this sector, The Australian Workers Union.
Prime Super has for many years invested directly into agriculture, and to be honest, the outcome has been less than satisfactory. There were many reasons for the poor investment outcome – partly it was the wrong investment and it was poorly managed, however, economic and climatic factors also played a significant part in the underperformance.
Prime Super has for many years invested directly into agriculture, and to be honest, the outcome has been less than satisfactory. There were many reasons for the poor investment outcome
There has been a lot of talk about investing directly into agriculture over recent years and many funds have made forays into this space. There have been a number of vehicles established that provide opportunities for investing into a large pool of underlying agricultural businesses. There are also many government ministers and others citing great investing opportunities in agriculture, as well as the benefits that can be derived by becoming the food bowl for Asia.
In my view, at this stage, superannuation investment into agriculture is not necessarily a natural move.
Stepping back and looking at the big picture of investment from superannuation funds, investment is made into the economies of countries through a range of products (such as equities, property, bonds and cash), to get a balance of investments products that will outperform the economic growth expectations of that economy while not taking too much risk. So by investing in Australian equities, bonds and cash, a fund aims to generate a return that is greater than just the return generated by the Australian economy as a whole over the medium to long term.
A core principle of investing is an asset only has value if it generates an income stream. When Prime Super invests in equities in Australia, we invest a portion of the entire fund into a number of different managers all with slightly different styles of investing (index, quant, growth, value, small cap etc.), with the aim of generating a return from the allocation to equities that out performs the return generated by the stock market as a whole.
An investment in agriculture is no different to any other investment that a superannuation fund makes. It is an investment in either property or a business, and the intention is that the investment would generate a return that exceeds a benchmark for that sector. The other key consideration is the exit strategy – how is the asset disposed of when it is necessary to do so?
As with any investment, the key considerations that are made on investing in agriculture are:
- what are the returns expectations?
- what are the risks in not meeting the return expectations?
- how liquid is the investment?
- potential government involvement.
Return expectations from the agricultural sector
A report produced by Industry Super Australia (ISA) in June 2017 entitled Driving Super Fund Investment in Agriculture noted that there is a meaningful difference in the return generated from large scale and small scale agricultural businesses, and that over the period from 1980 to 2016 the income and capital return generated from large scale agricultural industries was 9.7 per cent per annum. This is a reasonably strong return over an extended period of time.
Risks in not meeting return expectations
There are many risks in investing in agriculture that are over and above those of investing broadly into listed equities:
- environmental factors are significant. The extended drought throughout the 2000s had a significant impact on the sector and the returns generated
- international trade and prices are key drivers in domestic profitability
- diversification of investment approach is also a key risk. Given the number of factors that influence the success of an agricultural business, it is important to have broad diversification to offset these risks. Only through this diversification is it possible to offset the specific risks associated with an agricultural business.
Liquidity of agricultural investing
Liquidity is probably the key risk associated with investing in agriculture.
In general, superannuation funds do not typically invest directly in private or unlisted investment vehicles as it is difficult to exit those companies. It is more usual that investment occur through pooled venture capital or private equity funds, where risk can be spread across a broad range of companies, with the aim that the successful opportunities outweigh the unsuccessful opportunities. The exit strategy of most of these vehicles is through the ultimate public listing of the underlying companies, which provide liquidity to the investors.
In the case where a superannuation fund purchases a single agricultural business, the exit strategy is difficult (as it would be with an investment in any one business). The risks associated with investing directly in any single business are too high to justify the return that may be generated, and the risks that occur at the time of exiting the investment.
Agriculture does not have an established path for the growth of a business through to an ultimate public listing (like through private equity funds). This is a key limitation for the sector; there are some listed agriculture companies, but not many. The limitations that exist include:
- the need for large scale, multi-industry, multi-geographic exposures in one entity
- the high risk of climatic and economic impacts on the return
- the volatility of those returns due to the above factors.
Government involvement
A further risk that is little discussed is government involvement in large agricultural businesses. As we have recently seen with the attempts to sell S. Kidman & Co Pty Ltd and Cubbie Station, where very large agricultural land owners are looking to sell there is government and public interest in who the ultimate purchaser is. Where the ultimate purchaser is an offshore entity, there is the risk that the government may prevent the sale. In any situation where a third party can limit the range of potential purchasers there is an impact on the value of that business, and an impact on the ability to create a liquidity event. Both of these issues are significant impediments to superannuation investment.
What is the solution?
Australia has a lot of very successful farming businesses and this will continue to be so into the future. We have the ability to generate significant economic output from the agricultural sector. The key thing that is lacking is an investment in infrastructure to make the agricultural market more efficient globally and economically.
This is where government can play a part in setting out a future plan to make the agricultural sector more efficient, and allow successful business to get their product to market more quickly and at a lower cost. Through an established development plan that considers such things as:
- better road linkages from the farm gate to market, such as bypasses around regional centres
- improved rail linkages from local centres to port and around the country
- upgraded port facilities to enable direct transport to offshore markets
- lower cost of transport through improvements to the above
- improved water management infrastructure
- better IT connectivity and availability to fully enable to technologies of the future
- other key infrastructure spends.
The above can be
financed through super funds, where clear government backing and initiatives are in place. Through the government investing in infrastructure that make agricultural businesses more efficient and more effective, it will be possible to create the opportunity for them to develop into large economically viable businesses that can be floated on the stock exchange.
Through the government investing in infrastructure that make agricultural businesses more efficient and more effective, it will be possible to create the opportunity for them to develop into large economically viable businesses that can be floated on the stock exchange.
Superannuation funds have a role to play in investing in the infrastructure that gets this process started, not in just buying the farm. Over time we will see the creation of bigger and stronger businesses that will be successful as listed entities, and will be held by all superannuation funds through their listed portfolios.
