By Gerelyn Terzo, Global AgInvesting Media
The U.S. farm economy is pulling in fresh waves of institutional capital as credit specialists hunt for stable, asset-backed returns rooted in land and harvests. Barings, a global investment firm known for blending public and private market strategies, has joined forces with Homestead Capital, a San Francisco-based leader in farmland ownership and agricultural financing, to roll out a $300 million dedicated lending facility. The program is engineered to accelerate loan origination across the country’s vast farming landscape.
By pairing Barings’ established private-credit engine with Homestead’s on-the-ground expertise in farm lending, the partnership highlights growing demand among large investors for cash flows that spring directly from American agriculture.
Homestead Capital oversees roughly $1.6 billion in equity and credit strategies on behalf of pension funds, endowments, foundations, insurers and family offices. The firm buys, finances, and actively manages a wide range of farmland assets while running a specialized lending platform that serves everyone from small family operations and mid-sized growers to large-scale, vertically integrated agribusinesses, matching the full spectrum of capital needs across rural America.
Homestead Co-Founder and Co-CEO Gabe Santos stated, “We have been building our credit capability for years and want to be the gold standard for agriculture investing.”
Fellow Homestead Co-Founder and Co-CEO Dan Little said, “Our partnership with Barings elevates our loan origination efforts and provides new opportunities for investors to participate in agriculture, an asset class that offers compelling risk-adjusted and uncorrelated returns in a variety of market environments.”
The financing structure is built around forward-flow structure, one of private credit’s most efficient tools. Barings commits capital up front, Homestead originates and services the loans, and both sides benefit: Homestead gains predictable funding to grow its book, while Barings secures a recurring pipeline of diversified agricultural credit exposures. The expanded capacity is expected to push Homestead further into the $600 billion-plus U.S. agricultural credit market. New lending will target the Delta, Midwest, Mountain West, Pacific, Pacific Northwest, Southeast and Southwest regions, financing everything from traditional row crops and specialty plantings to permanent crops such as orchards and vineyards.
Barings Managing Director for the Asset-Based Finance Burak Cetin commented, “We’re excited to partner with Homestead and its experienced management team to increase the platform’s origination capacity and expand capital access for farmers. Through this partnership, we are expanding Barings’ asset-based origination network into the U.S. agricultural market and offering our clients access to differentiated agricultural credit opportunities.”
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