Just for starters, imagine growing one million lettuces, 350,000 cabbages, 200,000 bunches of celery and 700,000 bunches of silver beet in a season – all right on the city’s doorstep.

The opportunity to do so is what Mr Camilleri is wanting to pass on as he sells his 216-acre market garden bounded by the Macquarie River and railway line between Bathurst and Kelso.

Why? Because he wants to buy a bigger operation of upwards of 1000 acres further out west at Condobolin.

Mr Camilleri has listed the property – which comes complete with three water licences cable of supplying 550 million litres annually and a state-of-the-art irrigation system – with Bathurst Real Estate.

“I came to Bathurst after buying the land off George Smith in about September last year. We’d been looking for something like it for years, but there hadn’t been a property like this listed for sale for a decade,” he said. 

“We sold three market gardens we ran at Wallacia, near Penrith, to make the move here. 

“But we reckon we can go bigger if we move further out west. 

“I took over the business from my father and I’ve got a wife and six kids aged between eight and 16 years who all work for me before and after school and at weekends. There’s also six locals who work for me.”

Mr Camilleri said the land on the river flats close to Bathurst is incredibly fertile and as good as you will find anywhere. It’s like a sponge and just soaks up the water. 

“It’s ready to go for anyone who takes it on,” he said. “It’s hard work, but the rewards can be good. Demand for vegetables is only going to increase as more and more market gardeners get out of the business.”

All Mr Camilleri’s produce is sold through the Sydney Markets at Homebush.

“I noticed there were my cabbages at Aldi the other day. They take 600 to 700 a day from me,” he said. 

Mr Camilleri grows 600 tonnes of potatoes as well as 600 tonnes of pumpkins.

Julian Stambe from Bathurst Real Estate said yesterday he was surprised when the property was listed because it was so close to the central business district.

“You can virtually touch the Kennerson Park dog track at one end and it goes all the way to the railway line and backs onto the industrial estate at the end of Toronto Street at Kelso,” he said.

“Obviously the potential is there to continue market gardening, but it could also be suited to turf farming or lucerne flats.”

Offers over $2.4 million are being sought for the property.