June 12, 2023

By Lynda Kiernan-Stone, Global AgInvesting Media

Farmland Partners Inc. (FPI) announced it sold 1,370 acres of farmland across four farms in Arkansas, Georgia, Illinois, and South Carolina for a total of $8.9 million – representing a cumulative gain of $3.7 million – approximately 73 percent over net book value. 

The announcement of this achievement comes just one month after GAI News shared that the company sold 2.426 acres of farmland in Nebraska and South Carolina to the tenants who rented the properties through transactions totaling $16.2 million, representing a total gain of $3.1 million, or approximately 24 percent over book value.

“Asset appreciation is a major factor in farmland investment returns, and good farmland is still in high demand,” said Luca Fabbri, president and CEO, FPI. “Sales like these, and dispositions planned in the coming months, help us capture those returns and generate value for our shareholders.”

FPI is a real estate investment trust (REIT) that owns and seeks out high-quality farmland in North America, and makes loans to farmers secured by farm real estate. 

In 2016, the company merged with American Farmland Company (AFCO) to form the largest public farmland REIT in the U.S. at the time. The deal was highly complementary, bringing together Farmland Partners’ portfolio that was mainly row crop farmland with American Farmland’s portfolio of predominantly specialty and permanent crop farms – resulting in a combined portfolio of approximately 75 percent row crop and 25 percent specialty crop farms by value.

The following year, FPI executed a highly significant deal, when it acquired 5,100 acres of permanent crop farmland producing almonds, pistachios, and walnuts in California’s Central Valley from Olam International Limited for $110 million.

After weathering a “short and distort” scheme that began in 2018 targeting FPI management and its stockholders that was rife with false statements, and prevailing in court, regaining restitution equal to “a multiple” of the profits gained through the scheme, FPI began to announce further deals, acquiring 100 percent of Murray Wise Associates in November 2021 through a deal valued at $8 million that created an unparalleled platform for farmland investing. 

Then came more farmland acquisitions, including a $2.4 million deal in May 2022 for a 166-acre Illinois corn and soybean farm located in Bureau County, including a 16,000-bushel grain bin, and a $12.1 million deal in December 2022 for 3,843 acres of farmland in Texas.

The company also completed two property dispositions for $7.1 million and a total gain of $1.8 million in the quarter ending March 31, 2023. 

All told, so far this year, FPI has completed $32.5 million in farmland sales, representing a total gain on sale of nearly $8.7 million. 

Today, FPI owns, operates, and manages approximately 193,000 acres across 20 U.S. states growing 26 crop types by more than 100 tenant farmers across Alabama, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas, and Virginia.  Additionally, the company owns land and buildings for four agriculture equipment dealerships in Ohio leased to Ag Pro under the John Deere brand. 

~ Lynda Kiernan-Stone is editor in chief with GAI Media, and is managing editor and daily contributor for Global AgInvesting’s AgInvesting Weekly News and  Agtech Intel News, as well as HighQuest Group’s Unconventional Ag. She can be reached at lkiernan-stone@globalaginvesting.com.

*The content put forth by Global AgInvesting News and its parent company HighQuest Partners is intended to be used and must be used for informational purposes only. All information or other material herein is not to be construed as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice. Global AgInvesting and HighQuest Partners are not a fiduciary in any manner, and the reader assumes the sole responsibility of evaluating the merits and risks associated with the use of any information or other content on this site.