February 21, 2019

Open Prairie announced that its Open Prairie Rural Opportunities Fund, a vehicle operating as a USDA-licensed Rural Business Investment Company (RBIC), has completed its final close at $81 million.

The Open Prairie Rural Opportunities Fund was established as a vehicle geared to capitalize upon projected world population growth to 9 billion; a 70 percent increase in caloric demand; and crop demand growth of more than 100 percent by 2050.

The launch of the fund was originally announced in May 2016 by then U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack. At the time Vilsack said, “What excites me about this particular fund is (that) one of its focuses is on precision agriculture and data management. As we become more sophisticated in agriculture, we need to become more precise, and we need information and data to be collected and analyzed properly.”

Open Prairie partner and vice president Jason Wrone also commented, “We live, breathe and believe strongly in rural America and are pleased to be working with USDA, the Farm Credit System, and other entities that share our passion for building successful companies that have a meaningful impact on their respective business sectors and the communities in which they do business.”

A Dynamic Partnership

The $81 million raised for this fund has been secured from a diverse investor partnership including 12 Farm Credit institutions, 14 commercial and community banks, and multiple strategic agriculturally related organizations.

“The dynamic partnership of this investor group, consisting of Farm Credit institutions working alongside commercial banks that focus on rural and agricultural lending, creates an unparalleled opportunity for Open Prairie to provide both capital and market access to our portfolio companies,” said Jim Shultz, managing partner and founder of Open Prairie. “With extensive expertise in the agribusiness field, our management team and advisors have the insights and relationships to develop unique investment opportunities that will allow us to assist in accelerating growth for the companies in which we invest.”

Under its mandate, the fund has identified multiple key sub-sectors along the agribusiness value chain that represent investment opportunities, including soil, water and crop technologies, monitoring, sensor and data analytics platforms, food safety, and value-added processing and manufacturing.

Open Prairie expects to build out a portfolio of between 12 and 15 investments in growth and later stage companies in the agribusiness sector, with initial investment size of between $2 million and $5 million. Additional reserves will be held for follow-on investing.

The first investment completed by the Open Prairie Rural Opportunities Fund was announced in August of last year, when it committed $5.2 million to Tillerman Seeds, a Michigan-based seed company focused on non-GMO product lines.

“The Open Prairie team brings significant value to Tillerman Seeds as we accelerate our agribusiness platform,” said Remos Lenio, partner in Tillerman & Co. at the time. “They have a strong understanding of the industry and the growing momentum for experienced investors to contribute to global demands and dynamics.”

In the ensuing months, the fund has made two more investments, one in MyAgData, the developer of a pioneering acreage reporting solution in the form of a revolutionary cloud-based platform that allows for the collection of layers of geospatial data from precision ag technologies present in today’s farm equipment; and another in Green Dot Bioplastics, a Kansas-based manufacturer of bioplastics and biocomposites that is also working to reduce the environmental footprint of traditional plastics.

“Rural America is experiencing a wave of growth from new and innovative companies. Much of this expansion is coming across a broad spectrum of agribusiness from farm through supply chain,” said Patrick Morand, president of Open Prairie. “The Open Prairie Rural Opportunities Fund is uniquely positioned to further catalyze sustainability, productivity, profitability and prosperity for today’s agriculture and to serve as a valued partner in the current rural-American renaissance.”

-Lynda Kiernan