Mr Bryant said the trust had not had any further contact with Bonitas or its founder Matthew Wiechert, whom he believed had exited his short position fully.

''The common theme appears to be agricultural assets," Mr Bryant said referring to another short-selling firm, Glaucus, co-founded by Mr Wiechert, which had targeted ASX-listed Blue Sky and Quintis.

While he said there had been substance to these attacks, there was none behind the Bonitas attack on Rural Funds.

"The differences are very stark," Mr Bryant said.

Among the Bonitas assertions debunked by EY were that RFF fabricated $28 million of rental income, that it overstated its net assets by 100 per cent and that it did not disclose a $14.5 million related party loan.

Investors reacted positively to the EY rebuttal (and RFF's meeting its earnings guidance), with shares ending Tuesday up 5.5 per cent to $2.12.

However they have yet to recover to $2.35 level they were trading on August 5, prior to the release of the Bonitas report.

In its report, EY said: "Based on our independent investigation and procedures outlined below, the assertions contained within the Bonitas Document are not substantiated.


"Further, based on our inspection of the RFM response and the procedures undertaken as specified in this report, we observe that the RFM’s response to the Bonitas Document is corroborated by the observations in this report."

RFF, which owns almost $1 billion worth of almond orchards, cattle farms, vineyards, poultry sheds, cotton farms and other agribusiness assets leased to the likes of Olam, Treasury Wine Estates and Select Harvests, reported a 30 per cent boost in revenue in the 2019 financial year to $66.4 million.

Earnings (adjusted funds from operations) rose 33.7 per cent to $43.2 million or 4.7 per cent to 13.3¢, in line with guidance.

The fiscal 2020 forecast was AFFO per unit of 14¢, an increase of 5.3 per cent on the past financial year.

Over the course of the financial year, RFF increased its portfolio to 50 properties, adding a number of cattle stations, which now comprise 27 per cent of its portfolio by value, behind almonds at 42 per cent.

Mr Bryant said the outlook was strong for rural property and the trust was looking at potentially adding to its macadamia investments as well as at further opportunities in the cattle sector.