FAQ
Answers to Frequently Asked Questions
Farmland LP is a real asset-based fund that acquires high quality conventional farmland and adds value through conversion and management of the land to sustainably-farmed organic and permanent crops. Organic crop markets are expanding and generally demand for organics significantly exceeds supply.
Historically, U.S. farmland has delivered a real asset-class leading 11% annual unlevered, non-correlated return to investors. We are a top farmland management company managing over 15,000 acres of farmland valued in excess of $160 million in two funds. Founded in 2009, we deliver double-bottom line returns including both attractive financial returns to our investors (69.7% net in Fund I), and a positive ecosystem return (46.7%).
Farmland LP buys high quality farmland in great growing climates with abundant water. The Fund owns farmland in Oregon’s Willamette Valley and in Walla Walla, Washington. For Fund II, our plan going forward would be to acquire additional land in these same geographic areas.
The value of all farmland in the U.S. is approximately $3.3 trillion dollars. To give some perspective, that is roughly equivalent to the value of all the office buildings or multi-family apartments in the country. The vast majority of farmland is owned by individuals and families with approximately only one percent owned by institutions. And 40% of farmland in the U.S. is leased to other farmers.
More than half of the farmland in the U.S. grows just two commodity crops, corn and soy. By contrast, Farmland LP’s 45-person farm operations team focuses on growing high value organic and permanent crops like tomatoes, squash, blueberries, wine grapes, etc. In addition, we also lease land to other organic farmers if that option produces a higher return to the Fund.
Juniper Square is our Fund Administration portal that allows investors to close on their investment online. In Juniper Square investors will find Fund subscription documents as well as supporting documentation for your review. We use Juniper Square as a convenient and single source repository for Fund updates, reports, investor letters, etc. Of course, investors can always contact our fund administration team directly with any questions and information requests.
Farmland LP is open to accredited investors and institutional investors. An accredited investor, in the context of a natural person, includes anyone who: i) earned income that exceeded $200,000 (or $300,000 together with a spouse) in each of the prior two years, and reasonably expects the same for the current year, or ii) has a net worth over $1 million, either alone or together with a spouse (excluding the value of the person’s primary residence).
There are other categories of accredited investors, including the following, which may be relevant to you: i) any trust, with total assets in excess of $5 million, not formed specifically to purchase the subject securities, whose purchase is directed by a sophisticated person, or ii) any entity in which all of the equity owners are accredited investors. In this context, a sophisticated person means the person must have, or the company or private fund offering the securities reasonably believes that this person has, sufficient knowledge and experience in financial and business matters to evaluate the merits and risks of the prospective investment.
If you qualify as an accredited investor, our minimum investment amount is $50,000 for individuals and $1 million for institutional investors.
To invest, click this link: “Invest With Us” or select the button on the top-right on our website and you will automatically arrive at our investor portal.
In our investor portal, powered by CrowdStreet, the investment process is designed to be straightforward, and fully automated to walk you step-by-step through the investment process.
Farmland is a long-term asset and adding value by converting conventional farmland to sustainably-farmed and organic crops can take years. For example, the organic certification process can take three years, and planting permanent crops such as organic blueberries or wine grapes can take 3 to 5 years to generate cash flow. That said, we will distribute cash flow as soon as we are able, beginning in 2-3 years. For Fund II, we expect the majority of returns to investors to be realized at the end of the life of the Fund. An investment in Farmland LP should be considered a long-term investment with limited liquidity options prior to the end of the Fund when assets of the Fund will be sold and funds distributed to investors.
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