Five acre blocks to lease in Queensland Australia

At Peachester, my wife and I own 28 acres of rural land. At the age of 61, and running a publishing firm (see www.pocketbooks.com.au) I do not really have the time to start a Permaculture Biodynamic farm. But our land is probably quite perfect. We have 1850 mm of rain each year - yes 73 inches, in sub tropical climate, at 155 m above sea level.
We would like to lease 5 acre sections (2 ha) on a share-farm basis, or preferably, a direct rent basis, at about $300 Aust per week. Long leases and options can be arranged.
We will look to see if we can supply a shed/office/garage (which might unofficially really double as a bungalow with a rest-sleep area) with gravity water tank and solar cell electricity.
One block is fairly clear and could be planted with vegetables and fruit trees fairly quickly.
The other four blocks have regrowth pine timber and other trees. Initially, some-one on each block with a chain saw could make quite a good living selling firewood, and then planting vegetables and fruit trees as sections of land are prepared. Some fencing is needed for keeping of stock.
Peachester in Queensland is about 85 km (50 miles) north of Brisbane, and about 45 miles from Brisbane airport. We are at 476 - 500 MacDonald's Rd. Google often says this is Bald Knob locality, although the area was changed to Peachester locality about five years ago.
Gerry Clarke and Nevenka Clarke (07) 5439 0880 or 0411 144 881. From overseas: + 61 7 5439 0880 or + 61 4 1114 4881.

 

Hi Gerry, I'll start by saying I have no concept of how much things cost to rent these days...

My initial reaction is to think that $300 seems like a lot of money for a small piece of undeveloped land for a permaculture practitioner to pay. I'm having difficulty imagining how someone could get a return anything like that. Do you have something in mind, some kind of vision of what you think a tenant might be able to achieve? Perhaps a group of people pooling their resources?

Would you pay for earthworks or any of those sort of permanent land improvements? Do you have a plan for the whole of your property? How would you deal with the work of one tenant affecting the adjacent tenant. I'm really interested in how an arrangement like this might work.

 

Five acre blocks at Peachester, value proposition and work ethic

This area is the hinterland for the Sunshine Coast. People are paying $200 plus for simple accommodation in this area. I am proposing some accommodation plus the use of 5 acres on a farm basis. I have spoken with vegetable farmers, finding that they actually employ (planting, picking, packing sheds, transport etc) approximately one person for each acre they have under farm, meaning that each acre needs to produce around $60,000 to $70,000 per year in terms of crop. I am not suggesting that five acres would produce $300,000, but would certainly produce enough for a reasonable lifestyle and income. This land is ideal for avocados and mangos (longer term tree crops), paw paws (shorter term tree crops), semi-tropical vegetables, even coffee and tea.
At $300 per week, with accommodation being $200 means the land is let at $100 per week. This land with this rainfall and closeness to a capital city, if you went to buy it, has a value of approx $20,000 per acre or $100,000 for 5 acres. So a land rent of $100 is $5,000 per year, or only 5%.
Firewood is selling at the local service stations for $10 - $15 for what seems like a 15 kg bag; I will buy one today to check its weight and contents, just to confirm that this is economical for some-one to do on this land.
Some minor earthworks may be needed, as a small dam should probably be on each 5 acres. I would need to discuss this with potential tenants. We do have a tractor which can be borrowed, and some other equipment. The property lends itself to well defined fence lines between occupants. My wife and I would continue living in the house we have built on 2 or 3 acres of the land.
The local council has even started a discussion, by mentioning share farming with their proposed rural policy, about how to get acreages like ours into some sort of good farm production. And the state government wants to see areas like this rehabilitated into high grade horticultural use.
I have had the privilege, if only for a few minutes, of meeting Bill Mollison twice in my life, and would really like to meet Paul Holmgren! I do believe that permaculture and biodynamic farming should be able to produce equivalent, and in fact better, incomes for farmers than chemical farming. But permaculture and biodynamic practitioners need to approach the farming in a business sense, and a 40 hour a week work ethic, not just a hobby, and certainly not as a subsidised occupation which would force higher taxes on others to pay for them as a luxury. I am sure many do use such a work ethic.
There are local markets here. At Caboolture each Sunday i see proficient families selling lots of vegetables. At Caloundra, I think on Saturdays, the same. At Bribie Island, another. And even at Peachester there is once a month market.
I also have been a long practitioner of Transcendental Meditation and sidhis. So I will build these cabins in the Vastu mathematical configurations. I also do Reconnective Healing which I learnt directly from Eric Pearl. In 2012 I have completed a degree in Property Economics and Development at the University of the Sunshine Coast; this has given me great insight into how best to make this land available for the "right" types of farming, given all the political and legal machinations around. And I have been involved in Liberal party and LNP since 1969, giving me a bit of space to try to get parliamentarians to understand a little bit about alternative farming and alternative medicine; especially with my good relationships with Andrew Powell our local parliamentary member who is the Qld Environment Minister and the first one with a science degree and environmental qualifications.
Gerry
I hope this has answered some of your queries.

 

Personally I think share farming is nearly a form of slavery . a clip from wiki ; Sharecropping is the most common application of the sharefarming principle. In practice, sharefarmers work land which they don't own in return for varying portions of the total profit. In many cases where it is practiced in very poor farming communities it is considered an exploitative model.

 

But it doesn't have to be exploitative ariodeana. Just like marriage can be a living hell or a wonderful blessing - it all depends on the details and the relationships. The Sunshine Coast hinterland isn't a very poor farming community.

I somehow can't imagine a TM practitioner setting out to deliberately rip someone off.... I think this is an ideal opportunity for one of the many folk who pop up here on the site complaining that they don't have access to cheap land. This is a great opportunity to experiment and learn and walk away when you have learnt what you need to know to make your own place a success.

 

G'day Gerry, and welcome to the PRI Forum.

I expect you mean David Holmgren?

I also expect, given your recent studies, that you are aware of planning laws governing vegetation clearance, dam and dwelling construction, etc. within the Sunshine Coast local government area? If not, I'd be more than happy to point you in the right direction.

Good luck with your venture, Markos.

 

You could pay off a $150,000 mortgage on your own land for $300 a week and you dont have to deal with the whims of a land lord that expects you to do a 40 hour week and who believes in a political ideal that is in total contrast to your own.
Get something smaller and cheaper and were your sweat equity is your asset at your pace.

I have heard of share arrangements were established land with fruit trees,that is too large to manage for an ageing owner is offered rent free in return for help in managing it.
The land lord gets free food and company/security, the tenant gets to use the land in return for work.
,,,,just sayin

 

Thinking the same thing GH. It's also a bit hard to take your avo and mango trees with you if the arrangement doesn't work out. May appeal to some I suppose.

We have some share farmers around here with red claw. You put your pots out and others help themselves to your catch, but they put the pots back. Annoying but no harm done and no money lost.

 

Trees in the ground and firewood sold at the petrol station is an interesting concept of potential income.
I imagine a 20,000 litre water tank if bottled up into 250 mm bottles and sold at the petrol station could make you just as rich.
good luck with that.

 

Well, the idea of opening up some land for use seems to not be well accepted by some forum members. Please go back to Sydney where most are paying $600 a week to rent a two bedroom flat, and not able to raise a deposit for anything. I am pleased with the comments from the moderator, but, with these other comments, I may have to go down a different path to get the property underway. The minimum wage in Australia is around $18-20 an hour, meaning $700 a 38 hour week; add superannuation, holidays etc and the real wage is closer $800 pw. This is why a productive farm needs earn double that per employee; so the system I suggested would really allow people to get ahead. My brothers and I have had a lot of imput to ensure the policy of soil sequestration of carbon is part of Liberal Party policy - what most people don't yet realise is that this sequestration within the policy is mainly to be accomplished using Podolinsky's biodynamic farming; my brother, Adrian, persuaded Greg Hunt to visit biodynamic farms and see how some biodynamic diary farms sequester upto 260 tons of carbon per year per hectare, upto five times what a forest will do. I think I would like to have a chat with Markos, because I think he may have some useful advice.

 

Great! Let's have it here, in this thread. This way we can all learn from the experience, yes?

 

Great idea Im ready to learn