Lawson Grains and New Agriculture announce appointment of Angus Blair as Chief Executive Officer

Angus commenced with Lawson Grains in 2014 and his most recent role was General Manager, Commercial with responsibility for operations, investment analysis, acquisitions, budgeting, and management of Lawson Grains’ supply chain. Prior to joining Lawson Grains, Angus worked in investment research and consulting.

As CEO, Angus will be responsible for driving the overall strategy for the Lawson Grains business, which is one of Australia’s leading corporate farmers with a collective 120,000ha across 11 aggregations in New South Wales (NSW) and Western Australia.

The business has recently expanded to include Jemalong Station, a 13,500ha mixed farming operation near Forbes in central west NSW; Green Park an almost 3,000ha cropping business at Rand, NSW, which now forms part of the existing Borambil aggregation; and the Hehir’s Transport and Grain Storage businesses in southern NSW.

Bruce King, Director of New Agriculture said, “Angus is an emerging leader with a deep understanding of the business, its culture, and its importance to the Australian agriculture sector, making him the ideal candidate to lead Lawson Grains in the next stage of growth.  Australia’s agriculture industry has a role to play in the transition to a sustainable future, and we look forward to working closely with Angus and the team to continue to drive best practice outcomes.”

Angus Blair, Chief Executive Officer of Lawson Grains said, “It’s an honour to be appointed the next Chief Executive Officer of Lawson Grains, a company which is underpinned by investments in our people, environments, and best practice using the latest technologies and innovation.

With an experienced team across the business and a unique operating culture providing a great platform for growth, I am excited to lead the next chapter in the Lawson Grains story.”

Jonathan Braams, Portfolio Manager, Infrastructure & Renewable Resources at Alberta Investment Management Company (AIMCo) said, “As long-term stewards of pension, endowment and government funds, we value businesses and people that are focused on continual improvement, doing the right thing, and managing for the long term. We look forward to working closely with Angus in this new chapter for Lawson Grains.”

In January 2022, Alberta Investment Management Company (AIMCo) and New Forests acquired Lawson Grains Pty Limited from Macquarie Asset Management. In August 2022, New Agriculture was established as a business division of New Forests.

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About AIMCo

AIMCo is one of Canada’s largest and most diversified institutional investment managers with more than CAD$164 billion of assets under management. AIMCo invests globally on behalf of 17 pension, endowment and government funds in the Province of Alberta. AIMCo’s Timberland investment mandate started in 2005 and was expanded to include Agriculture in 2016, forming Renewable Resources. For more information on AIMCo please visit www.aimco.ca or follow us on LinkedIn.

About New Agriculture

Headquartered in Australia, New Agriculture was established in August 2022 to both manage the Lawson Grains aggregation, which was acquired by New Forests and Alberta Investment Management Company (AIMCo) in January 2022, and to build a portfolio of agriculture assets globally, starting in Australia and New Zealand.

New Agriculture has approximately A$1.2 billion in assets under management and is part of New Forests, a global investment manager of nature-based real assets. New Agriculture’s objective is to manage these assets for market leading investment returns through sustainable agricultural production while also aligning with New Forests’ strategic impact objectives to contribute to nature-based solutions, shared prosperity, and the circular bioeconomy.

For further information please visit www.newagriculture.com or follow us on LinkedIn.