Colorado-based farmland investment group, Farmland Partners, is signaling its intent to make additional land purchases in 2015 after doubling its agreed upon bond purchase facility with the Federal Agricultural Mortgage Corp. (also known as Farmer Mac) from $75 million to $150 million. Under the Farmer Mac program, Farmland Partners has a total bond issuance of $81.1 million, leaving a health amount available to borrow against. Since its listing in April 2014, Farmland Partners has spent a total of $128 million to acquire 39,000 acres of farmland, with $92 million being spent to acquire 22,000 acres in the October through December quarter alone. In addition to Farmland Partners, in a separate act Gladstone Land Corp., with a portfolio of 8,000 acres, announced the $17 million purchase of a 331 acre strawberry operation in California through the use of its own $75 million Farmer Mac agreement. These purchases come as industry watchers indicate that Iowa farmland values have fallen by 8.9% this year – the largest drop in 28 years, however Farmland Partners counters that according to the National Council of Real Estate Investment Fiduciaries (NCREIF) farm returns have not proven negative since 1992.
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