October 22, 2024

By Gerelyn Terzo, Global AgInvesting Media

In a deal underpinned by regenerative agriculture practices, Iroquois Valley Farmland, a U.S.-based private real estate investment trust (REIT), has partnered with Dirt Capital to co-invest in Evergreen Ranching and Livestock. Through the deal, the investors provided financing to organic rancher Cindy Tolle to acquire over 22,000 deeded and leased acres to form a new hub at Arizona’s Diamond E. Ranch, comprising a native grassland and rangeland ecosystem. While the co-investors are keeping the size of the mortgage financing close to the vest, GAI News has learned that it comprises a combination of debt and equity.

According to the co-backers, the financing was made possible through the collaborative efforts of ranchers, impact-driven companies and investors, as well as a pair of environmental groups — The Conservation Fund and Natural Resources Conservation Services. It provides Evergreen Ranching and Livestock’s Tolle, who’s also a biologist and environmental chemist, with the resources she needs to permanently conserve the environmentally resilient desert grasslands in Southeastern Arizona’s Central Flyway. As a result, the land is on pace to earn the designation as a certified organic and an Audubon Conservation Ranch.

Iroquois Valley CEO Chris Zuehlsdorff told GAI News, “Both ourselves and Dirt Capital are able to finance farmers and ranchers, but we also provide post-investment support as well. We approach working with the farmers in our network as a partnership, and we’re here to help them be successful. Dirt Capital brings expertise in conservation easements, and working with the two funds would be an example of post-investment support to ensure the conservation easements are successful.”

The deal reflects and expanded relationship between Iroquois Valley and Tolle, who began working together back in 2021 when the Diamond ranch was much smaller than it is today. Iroquois Valley extended financing to her Midwest farming hub in 2022. The partners have been working on the latest deal for over a year after visiting Tolle’s ranches in South Dakota and Arizona to better understand her operations and vision for the stewardship of the property. Last year, Iroquois Valley reached out to Dirt Capital, who they’ve known for many years, to gauge their interest in striking up a potential partnership, and the rest is history.

In response to the deal, which closed in late September, Iroquois Valley’s Zuehlsdorff told us, “It’s going well. We’re excited to further our partnership with Cindy to see her implement her vision for restoring the ecosystem.”

The cattle raised on the Diamond ranch are of the Criollo variety, a desert-adapted species, contributing to Evergreen Ranching and Diamond E. Beef’s supply chain. The Criollo species are resilient in this drought-prone region, owing to qualities such as efficient forage conversion, water use, breedback and mothering. The ranch harnesses conservation water management practices including seasonal rain capture for grassland habitat restoration.

As an early mover in regenerative ag, Iroquois Valley REIT has been around since 2007. The private REIT has invested $115 million into dozens of certified organic and transitioning farmers across nearly two-dozen U.S. states with a view to give impact-driven investors an opportunity to make organic agriculture the norm rather than the exception.

Iroquois Valley’s Zuehlsdorff said, “This partnership in Southeastern Arizona provides our company the opportunity to further invest with Cindy, a longstanding successful rancher in our portfolio, and collaborate with an impact-aligned partner in Dirt Capital. It is an exciting and ecologically important project.”

Dirt Capital Director of Investment Amanda Zakharov stated, “We are thrilled to be deepening our collaboration with Iroquois Valley and The Conservation Fund while empowering an incredible regenerative ranch to conserve ecologically critical land.”

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