By Editor, AgInvesting Media
Fundraising across private markets has stayed selective through 2026, and agribusiness is no exception. Against that backdrop, AGR Partners has closed $167 million of commitments to its fourth fund as of September 2026, on the way to a $250 million target and a $300 million hard cap, and has announced four investments.
The firm’s focus on finding investment opportunities has remained consistent since inception in 2012: invest behind durable shifts in what people eat, do it in the overlooked “hidden middle” of the food and agriculture value chain as the first institutional partner to family- and founder-owned businesses, and invest in capital structures where upside returns are achievable and real assets protect the downside.
Following the Fork, Not the Futures Market
AGR’s investment process starts with durable consumer demand and works backward through the value chain to find the businesses positioned to serve it. As populations expand and higher incomes allow diets to shift toward higher-protein and “better-for-you” foods, demand for fresh produce, tree nuts, healthy fats and clean, functional ingredients has opened a window for investing across specialty crops and value-added processing.
“We’ve been focused on high protein and ‘better for you’ since the firm’s formation in 2012,” said Brock Jenkins, Principal at AGR Partners. “The first tailwind is the shift from the traditional food pyramid to one focused on proteins, fruits and vegetables, and healthy fats. Our Fund IV is a reflection of that focus with investments in fruit and produce, protein ingredients, and olive oil.”
Ejnar Knudsen, Founder and Managing Partner of AGR, also noted the rise of GLP-1 medications is an accelerant with nearly 12 percent of U.S. adults having begun GLP-1 therapy.1
“Doctors and dietitians are suggesting that people taking GLP-1s need to be more intentional about what they eat,” Knudsen said. “If you’re eating less overall, protein becomes more important to help maintain muscle, and there’s more emphasis on nutrient-dense foods like fruits and vegetables.”
“People don’t just eat less, they eat differently, and differently means more value per bite,” Jenkins added. “That is a shift of the food dollar toward the value-added middle of the chain where we invest, and away from undifferentiated commodity calories.”
The Hidden Middle and Why AGR Can Reach It
The “hidden middle” is everything that happens to food between the farm gate and the grocery shelf: primary conversion, value-added processing, storage, logistics and distribution. Most investors overlook it since it is neither farmland nor a consumer brand. AGR’s target businesses typically generate $75 million to $500 million in revenue and $10 million to $50 million of EBITDA, and most are family- or founder-owned with no prior institutional capital.
“These companies have moved past basic commodity production but aren’t on the radar of generalist buyout firms,” Knudsen said. “The owners are motivated and aligned, often facing a succession or growth-capital decision, and they want a partner for the next chapter rather than an exit today.”
Hidden-middle companies sell a value-added product, so they pass costs through margin rather than betting on the direction of commodity prices. Their earnings are steadier yet still inflation-protected, and they sit on real, hard-to-replicate physical assets that underpin both cash flows and valuations. AGR reaches them through a direct origination model built over 14 years. “In our view it’s the lowest-risk way to invest behind durable trends in food demand,” Knudsen said.
Fund IV Taking Shape
In December 2025, AGR made a minority investment in The Giumarra Companies, a century-old West Coast produce marketer specializing in avocados, berries and table grapes. “Global consumers demand fresh produce year-round, so companies like Giumarra are unique in their ability to source product on a year-round basis for both retail and foodservice,” Knudsen said.
The second was a structured-capital investment supporting Australian-listed Cobram Estate Olives in its acquisition of California Olive Ranch, completed in March 2026, which created the world’s largest premium extra-virgin olive oil business. In public filings, Cobram said it partnered with AGR because of the firm’s food and agribusiness specialty and U.S. network, and that AGR was instrumental in constructing the terms and accelerating the timing of the acquisition. 2
In July 2026, AGR acquired a stake in Freshco, one of New Zealand’s largest vertically integrated apple, squash and cherry producers. Freshco exports apples to more than 30 countries, including over half of Japan’s imported apples. The capital funds new production, packhouse automation and international in-market investment.
In late September 2026, AGR announced a structured-capital growth investment in New Zealand’s Dairy Goat Co-operative, a farmer-owned producer of goat-milk infant and toddler nutrition. The capital funds milk-supply expansion, growth in branded and ingredient sales, and new market development.
“These investments fit our past investment profile, and our growing strategy, of companies benefiting from the ‘better for you,’ more fruits and vegetables, healthier fats profile,” Knudsen said. “We’re continuing to work with companies that are doubling down on their strategy and bringing a capital partner that can help get them to that next level.”
What Is Resonating With Allocators
“Allocators are looking for managers that have a clearly differentiated strategy, unique origination and a performance track record through cycles,” said Jenkins. “More investors are talking to us about hard assets and inflation protection because we target businesses with physical infrastructure that new technologies like artificial intelligence can enhance but not easily disrupt, replicate or make obsolete.”
Distributions of capital matter as much as the thesis. Knudsen noted that AGR’s late-stage, dividend-yielding companies and investment structures allow the firm to return capital to investors, and the firm has a track record of returning capital across previous funds, a point of differentiation in a market focused on distributed-to-paid-in capital (DPI).
AGR’s Fund IV has closed $167 million of capital through September 2026, anchored by a long-term institutional partner, as well as key returning investors and added new investors.
Looking Ahead
“We’re excited about Fund IV and the market opportunity in front of us, the tailwinds supporting the category and the resiliency of value-added real assets owned and operated by the best families and founders, who are looking for our help to double their value over the next five years and triple it over the next 10,” Knudsen said.
“We think our strategy is one of the best ways to complement a real-asset allocation,” Jenkins added. “It provides inflation protection, exposure that isn’t tied to the broader economy, and capital preservation with upside optionality, in this part of the cycle and across cycles.”
About AGR Partners
AGR Partners was founded in 2012 and has invested approximately $900 million across 25 companies in the United States, Australia and New Zealand, with offices on the West Coast, in Chicago and in Sydney. The firm is now 100 percent employee-owned, which broadens participation in its economics, reinforces long-term alignment and supports recruiting and retaining the next generation of the team.
“We see great alignment with our LPs,” Knudsen said, “and we have the incentive to continue to grow our business, deploying capital and building on our track record of value creation.”
1 Source: RAND news release, August 6, 2025.
2 Testimonials of portfolio company executives and our partners are provided to demonstrate the benefits of working with AGR Partners LLC. They are not provided to solicit investors in an AGR Partners LLC fund. AGR Partners LLC team members receive a salary and/or economics from AGR Partners LLC, and portfolio company executives receive a salary and economics from the respective portfolio company. No executives were paid for their testimonial. There is an inherent conflict of interest in these unpaid testimonials in that all executives stand to benefit from AGR Partners LLC’s success and for the portfolio company executives specifically. Cobram Estates is a portfolio company of AGR Partners LLC. They were not compensated for this testimonial.
Important Disclosures
AGR Partners LLC (“AGR”) is an investment adviser registered under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940, as amended. Registration does not imply a certain level of skill or training. More information about AGR including our investment strategies, fees and objectives, can be found in our Form ADV Part 2, which is available upon request.
The information in this document is for informational and discussion purposes only and is not intended to be, nor should it be construed or used as, investment, tax or legal advice, any recommendation of, or an offer to sell, or a solicitation of any offer to buy, an interest in any security, including an interest in any private investment fund currently managed or to be managed by AGR Partners, LLC. This document may not be relied upon for the purpose of purchasing interests, and applications for interests may only be made in due course on the basis of the (a) limited partnership agreement, (b) private placement memorandum, and (c) subscription agreement relating to a fund, in their final forms, either of which may differ from the information herein. Moreover, any offer to buy limited partnership interests in the fund referenced herein will only be made pursuant to a private offering to investors who qualify to invest in such funds.
Current performance may be lower or higher than the performance presented herein. No representation is made that the Fund or any account will or is likely to achieve its objective or that any investor will or is likely to achieve its objectives or that any investor will or is likely to achieve results comparable to those shown or will make any profit at all or will be able to avoid incurring substantial losses. Past performance is not a guarantee of future results. Prior performance results have inherent limitations, including that they do not reflect the impact that economic and market factors may have on the investment decisions for a Fund. No representation is made that the fund will or is likely to achieve its objectives or will make any profit or will be able to avoid incurring substantial losses. Any presented objectives are aspirational in nature in only. The value of investments can fluctuate, and investors may not get back all or any of the amount invested. Any descriptions or information involving investment objectives or criteria, statistical analysis, investment process, or investment strategies are provided for illustration purposes only, may not be fully indicative of any present or future investments, may be changed by the discretion of the relevant General Partner and are not intended to reflect actual performance or to project performance. A full list of portfolio companies is available upon request.
Certain statistical, economic, market, and other information presented herein has been derived from other third-party sources and is considered to be reliable by AGR Partners, but accuracy and completeness cannot be guaranteed.
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