March 9, 2021

By Lynda Kiernan, Global AgInvesting Media

Gladstone Land has expanded its holdings in the U.S. Mid-Atlantic region with the announcement of its acquisition of 228 acres of farmland located in Dorchester County, Maryland, for $1.6 million. 

In association with this deal, Gladstone has expanded its partnership with a current tenant, who is a large sod and vegetable grower, by establishing a 10-year lease agreement for the land.

“We are very proud to expand in the region with a current tenant and local grower,” said Joseph Van Wingerden, director, Gladstone Land. “This farm is ideal for our tenant’s current operations and allows us to fill the role as a real estate partner with them.”

Gladstone also noted that it has marked the mid-Atlantic region for expansion, saying that they are looking at several more farms as potential acquisitions to be either leased to their current tenants or to expand their tenant base.

“Expanding on the East Coast, where many farms are close to major cities and have abundant water, is integral to our continued growth and diversification,” said David Gladstone, president and CEO of Gladstone Land.

“We hope to continue to assist farmers in the region and across the country secure farmland for the long-term and help them to preserve capital for use in their operations. This is especially critical in areas that are more likely to see increasing pressure on land prices from residential and commercial development.”

Gladstone first entered the mid-Atlantic region in September 2020 with the acquisition of 939 gross acres of farmland on Maryland’s Eastern Shore and Delaware for approximately $7.4 million. 

Gladstone bought the land with the intention of growing vegetables and sod, and, as per the firm’s usual course of action, entered into a 10-year lease with a large-scale vegetable and sod grower to manage the property.

“We are very excited about this opportunity to enter into a new region and partner with a great and diversified local grower,” said Wingerden at the time. “We hope to continue to expand in the Mid-Atlantic region and offer local farmers a chance to grow their acreage.”

This deal is the second officially announced by Gladstone in 2021. The first was shared just days into the new year – an acquisition of 160 acres of citrus orchards in Tulare County, California, for $4.2 million. 

Producing Meyer lemons and two varieties of mandarins, this land expands Gladstone’s portfolio into a new crop type, noted Tony Marci, managing director of Gladstone at the time, who said, “This farm near Ducor, California, is the right combination of varieties and age that we are looking for, and we look forward to owning this relatively young asset for many years.”

As it currently stands, Gladstone’s portfolio consists of 139 farms totaling 101,000 acres across 13 different U.S. states, with a value of approximately $1.2 billion. 

The company’s farms are concentrated in areas where tenants are able to grow fresh produce annual row crops such as berries and vegetables, or permanent crops such as almonds, apples, cherries, figs, lemons, olives, pistachios, blueberries, and grapes.

– 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.