Spotlight on Kim Morison, Chairman, Chief Investment Officer, Argyle Capital Partners
Global Thought Leader Spotlight
Kim Morison, Chairman, Chief Investment Officer, Argyle Capital Partners
In my role as the Chairman and Chief Investment Officer at Argyle Capital Partners I am responsible for the overarching strategy of investing in water entitlements as a means to derive returns from Australia’s highest value agricultural enterprises. These investments support the development and growing productivity of regional food and fibre producers servicing domestic and export markets.
I spend much of my time educating prospective investors on the merits of the strategy and its valuable role in Australia’s agricultural sector.
The investments complement Australia’s world-leading market based ‘cap and trade’ approach to accessing scarce water resources for consumptive use. That framework preserves sufficient water to sustain riverine environments and encourages greater water-use efficiency over time.
Our investments contribute to greater sophistication of water markets, and allow irrigators to access capital and manage water supply risk across future years.
Investment opportunities in water rights
Investments in water rights are an efficient means to gain exposure to Australia’s food and fibre production capacity, which is increasingly directed to service high value paying export markets across Asia.
Australia’s agricultural sector is globally competitive and benefits from annual productivity gains that outstrip most other sectors of the economy. The ag sector is mostly privately owned and requires patient capital to invest through commodity and climate cycles. Few investors understand that 15% of Australian farmers produce 85% of profits. These are highly productive businesses that derive compelling risk-adjusted returns.
There are compelling opportunities for investors to access uncorrelated, real asset backed investment returns in the sector, driven by export markets for Australian food and fibre production. These are not markets that will be easily disrupted or made redundant by new technologies; people have to eat.
Growing Asian populations, especially those with growing per capita wealth, have increased demand for clean, traceable, high-value produce. Australia is well placed to service these near neighbouring markets. Argyle has long understood the nature of the sector, its returns and risks. We specifically developed our Water Fund strategy to efficiently invest to access returns from the most sophisticated and capital-intensive irrigation farms.
Water is the most limiting factor in Australia’s agricultural sector. Owning this resource represents the keys to Australia’s food and fibre production. Increasingly that resource is competed between sustainable consumptive uses. A large component of the water resource is preserved for the environment – it cannot be applied for consumptive use. The proportion reserved for environmental use in the largest river system, the Murray-Darling Basin, has been increased in recent years through Government funded buybacks. The buybacks have further reduced the amount of water that can be applied for food and fibre production. It has focused farmers in achieving the most efficient use of this scarce resource.
Productivity of water use has increased over time, and continues to do so as farmers adopt more efficient plant varieties, agronomic practices and irrigation technologies. Over time, this means farmers are able to afford to pay higher prices for water as their key input.
Opportunities for sophisticated investors
Sophisticated and institutional investors often overlook Australia’s agricultural sector, but for that reason it presents compelling opportunities.
In the past, farmland assets were largely owned and operated by family businesses. However, that is changing. The sector requires large capital investments to accomplish family succession, scale-aggregation, intensification of production and processing, adoption of sophisticated technologies, and increased supply chain integration.
All of these represent investment opportunities for patient capital. And the returns are compelling. Managed Australian farmland investments, as measured by the Australian Farmland Index have achieved 10% annualised returns since 2015. Managed investments in water entitlements have achieved 12% annualised returns over the same period, with volatility less than 6% per annum.
Kim will be presenting at Global Investment Institute’s upcoming Family Office Investment Forum on Tuesday, 1 September 2026 in Melbourne CBD, Victoria. To register your interest in attending, click here or for more information email zlatan@globalii.com.au.
Kim Morison, Chairman, Chief Investment Officer, Argyle Capital Partners
Kim is the principal of Argyle Capital Partners, a specialist manager of investments in Australian water rights. The firm was established in 2007 to specifically invest in water rights as an efficient means to participate in the development of irrigated farming enterprises and increase Australia’s capacity to reliably produce food and fibre for high-value export markets of Asia.
Argyle’s investment activities support irrigation enterprises to achieve highest and best use of water, a key input. This benefits Australia’s farming communities and encourages the sustainable use of its most scarce natural resource.
Argyle is a pioneer of this unique asset class and currently manages over A$1.3 billion on behalf of Australian and offshore investors.
Kim grew up in regional Australia and has over 30 years’ experience in irrigated agribusiness, water markets, commodity derivatives, and the international trade of soft commodities. He previously held senior management roles with Macquarie Bank’s agricultural commodities division, Colly Farms Cotton and CSR Sugar.
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