One of Australia’s largest melon producers has increased its footprint in the Northern Territory, buying nearly 2,500 hectares in the Douglas Daly region.

Rombola Family Farms grows melons and pumpkins near Mataranka and has now bought the Midway portfolio, which comes with water licences totalling just over 7,600 megalitres a year.

The land had been used to grow Indian sandalwood, with Quintis (formerly known as TFS) planting some of the first trees in 2013.

LAWD real estate agent Olivia Thompson said Rombola had exciting plans for the region.

“They’ll be growing melons and expanding their northern portfolio and the Douglas Daly has a history of growing great watermelons,” she told ABC Rural.

“That region is already an agricultural hub [for the Northern Territory] and this will be another string to that bow.

“There will be some great long-term employment opportunities come out of this for locals and for contractors.”

NT Farmers Association chief executive, Greg Troughton, said the NT’s melon industry was worth about $66 million a year and NT melons and pumpkins were starting to be exported via Darwin.

“This purchase in the Douglas Daly really speaks loudly and very clearly about the confidence [industry has] in horticulture for that area and its potential,” he said.

Sandalwood sell-off

In 2017 Quintis controlled “the largest volume of licenced water in the Northern Territory”, with allocations totalling at least 51,000 megalitres.

It also owned, leased or managed about 29,000 hectares of land in the Douglas Daly, Katherine and Mataranka regions.

But the company has since gone into receivership and its portfolio is slowly being sold off.

Ms Thompson said Rombola was still considering what to do with the sandalwood plantations.

“There is a window of opportunity for some of those trees to still be harvested, but that’s for Rombola to decide and they are seriously investigating that,” she said. 

“But their prime focus is developing the property to what they do best.”

The price paid for the Midway portfolio has not been disclosed, but Ms Thompson said expectations “were around the $10 million mark and it was a competitive process.”

“There’s not a lot of opportunity to purchase freehold property that’s already developed for irrigation in the NT,” she said.

“Despite recent misinformed media about the great water grab in the north, there’s very limited opportunities to buy land and water like this in the Top End.”

Rombola Family Farms has been contacted for further comment.

ABC Rural understands other Indian sandalwood properties in the NT and Kimberley region of Western Australia will be put on the market in early 2025.