Overcoming adversity with innovation

With a commitment to ensuring a prosperous Australia for future generations, AAM exists to promote investment in agriculture that will leave a positive and sustainable legacy. Proudly privately owned and with more than 530 people employed across the country, it offers strategic investment, asset management and operational management services with a focus on providing a platform for all Australians to invest in agriculture.

The company’s philosophy is one of diversification across industries and geographic locations, and in 2022 AAM has more than $600 million invested in farmland and agriculture supply chain assets. It also invests heavily in sustainability innovation to ensure it can protect planetary and animal health by producing more with less.

One of these initiatives is its South Australian free-range poultry operation that houses the nation’s largest on-farm solar battery. Creating net zero usage equivalent to removing 12,000 cars from the road or planting 72,000 trees, it delivers enough energy to power more than 650 homes and allows Riverlands Free Range Farms to be fully powered by renewable energy 65 per cent of the time.

Strategic property acquisition to provide economic stability through environmental diversity has allowed CC Cooper & Co to grow to 820,000 hectares of agricultural and pastoral land across three states. Further stability comes via having diverse income streams from grain, hay and livestock, which minimises the impact of pricing fluctuations in individual commodities.

The family has always invested in property development to improve productivity and resilience in times of drought. In the case of the redevelopment of Madura Plains Station, this has seen $7 million invested, including over 1,000 kilometres of both fencing and pipelines to distribute high-quality stock water to all parts of the 712,000-hectare sheep station on the Nullarbor. A 12,000 head feedlot has also been installed to improve the management of stock through shearing and trucking. Whenever challenges have been faced, the Coopers have aimed to invest in permanent solutions to future-proof against a recurrence of the problem.

The use of technology has greatly improved stock and water management efficiency. Telemetry monitors water systems across all properties, while electronic ID and auto-drafting technology allow for full data recording on individual animals.