For me, that’s one of Mark Twain’s best quotes. Great advice back then. Great advice right now. Especially when it comes to farmland. Why?
For one, when you invest in farmland, you don’t have to actually farm the land yourself. You can simply rent your land to a real farmer who will farm it for you. They pay all the costs, take all the risk of growing and marketing the crops, and send you a nice check each year for the right to do so.
Two, farmland prices have gone up quite nicely – in fact, 5.6% per year over the last 50 years. They’ve appreciated faster during times of inflation (like now) and have largely been uncorrelated to traditional investments like stock and bond prices.
Three, though the world population continues to grow (more mouths to feed) and income levels globally are converging (more money to spend), the amount of arable land worldwide is actually declining (less land for growing crops). We have increasing demand for food running headlong into potentially lower supply. The long term outlook for crop prices, and correspondingly for farmland prices, is a very good one.
Add into the mix that the farmscape is going through tremendous change right now. New technologies, new uses for land, generational turnover, an influx of institutional investors, and a greater importance on sustainability. Where there is change, there is opportunity and that opportunity is here and now.
Income, price appreciation, inflation hedge, diversification, all in one investment. Can it get any better? Yes it can! By investing in organic farmland. That’s what we do at Organic Farm Partners. And we make it easy for you to do it with us.
In the next few blogs I’ll tell you why we specifically chose to focus on organic farmland and organic farmland conversion, and how easy it is to get started and what you can expect when you become one of our limited partners. And why we are the ideal group for you to trust your (farmland) investment dollars.
