10 – Mar – 2022

Wise: A Thousand Acres is for Investing, Not Fighting

Jane Smiley, a former English professor at Iowa State University, wrote a Pulitzer Prize-winning novel about an Iowa farm family in the 1970s feuding over control of 1,000 acres. The Shakespearean drama that unfolded in the fictitious A Thousand Acres could be expected given the rapid increase in farmland values at the time. U.S. farmland […]

Jane Smiley, a former English professor at Iowa State University, wrote a Pulitzer Prize-winning novel about an Iowa farm family in the 1970s feuding over control of 1,000 acres. The Shakespearean drama that unfolded in the fictitious A Thousand Acres could be expected given the rapid increase in farmland values at the time.

U.S. farmland more than tripled during the decade, from $196 an acre in 1970 to $628 in 1979, according to U.S Department of Agriculture (USDA) data. An acre averages $3,380 today – and a lot more in fertile Midwestern states – based on that same survey.

Today’s land appreciation is meant for investing, not fighting.

Nearly 40 years ago, I helped pioneer the idea of farmland as an investable asset class for institutional investors. At the time, farm country was embroiled in a financial crisis, but investors were willing to bet on agriculture’s bright future, especially as more farmers started renting acreage to scale operations.

Investors’ optimism rings just as true today. Why? Because farmland represents a large and under-allocated sector that provides steady appreciation and predictable income. Plus, the growth potential is tremendous. …

Read the full article in Agri-Pulse

FPI Insights
04 – Mar – 2022

Farm Level Decisions Made by Farmers Benefit All

Our CEO recently addressed two groups of farm leaders at the Colorado Agriculture Forum and the National Council of Farmer Cooperatives. The farmers in the audience were quite curious about farmland investing – especially as people turn to farmland as a hedge against inflationary pressures – and how it might affect their livelihoods. Put more […]
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In the News
25 – Mar – 2022

This Colorado CEO Grew a Farmland REIT Into a Billion-Dollar Public Company

Paul Pittman brought a combination of Midwestern farming and corporate finance together in a public company in Denver. He’s the top executive of one of the few companies connecting the world of finance to farming and agriculture, a real estate company that’s a landlord to tenant farmers around the country and allows investors to benefit […]
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