Farmland Partners has made its second land purchase within a week tripling the size of its portfolio to exceed 23,000 acres. The group has executed a series of purchase since its raised $53 million from its initial public offering in April. Upon its floatation the group purchased a 3,696 acres row crop farm in Colorado for $8.7 million, and within a week, purchased 12,500 acres of corn and soybean land on the Colorado-Kansas border for $12.5 million and 640 acres of corn and soybean land in Nebraska for $1 million. The purchases point to a move by Farmland Partners to exploit the “near zero vacancy rate” of U.S. farmland and the demand by farmers for rental acreage. All three purchases since the group’s floatation will be rented back to their sellers at rates between 4.63% and 6.25%. In its prospectus the group acknowledges the recent dip in U.S. farmland prices but states that it does not expect to see any major long-term declines in value.
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