October 27, 2020

By Lynda Kiernan, Global AgInvesting Media

Gladstone Land continues its recent acquisition streak, disclosing its second deal within the month. The REIT announced it has acquired 597 gross acres of farmland and farm-related facilities spread across three farms in Bamberg and Orangeburg Counties, South Carolina, for $3.8 million. 

This is the first acquisition for Gladstone within the state of South Carolina, and as is standard, the company has entered into a 10-year lease agreement with a top sod grower in the area.

“We are excited to enter into a new state, South Carolina,” said David Gladstone, president and CEO of Gladstone Land. “With this acquisition, Gladstone Land now owns farms in 13 different states and 26 different growing regions across the United States. We are also pleased to be forming a new relationship with a strong grower in the region.”

The land is fully irrigated and is suitable to grow any number of diverse crops, according to Bill Frisbie, executive vice president, Gladstone, who added that the tenant farmer plans to continue to grow sod to support its business in the Southeast. 

Sod production has been playing a greater role in Gladstone’s deals over the past year or so. In September 2019 the company announced two California farmland deals in quick succession. The first was for 413 gross acres of farmland in Oxnard, which, as part of the terms of the deal, the seller leased back the majority of the farm to continue their sod business, while the remainder of the land was leased to a local berry grower for the production of a variety of berry crops. 

And in September of this year, Gladstone made its first deal in Maryland’s Eastern Shore and Delaware – where it acquired 939 gross acres of farmland for approximately $7.4 million which will be used to grow vegetables and sod. 

This latest deal brings Gladstone’s portfolio to 127 farms consisting of 95,000 acres across 13 U.S. states, with AUM nearing $1 billion, at $987 million.

Over the years Gladstone has diversified its portfolio to include fresh produce annual row crops, such as berries and vegetables; and permanent crops such as almonds, apples, figs, olives, pistachios, pecans, and sod, as well as vineyards, and blueberry groves.

– Lynda Kiernan is editor with GAI Media, and is managing editor and daily contributor for Global AgInvesting’s AgInvesting Weekly News and  Agtech Intel News, and HighQuest Group’s Oilseed & Grain News. She is also a contributor to the GAI Gazette. She can be reached at lkiernan@globalaginvesting.com.