Gladstone expands Colorado hay farm

The farmland REIT paid nearly $1m for a 1,280 acre add-on to the hay-growing operations of an existing tenant.

Acting at the suggestion of its tenant on an adjacent property, Gladstone Land has purchased a 1,280-acre hay farm in Baca County, Colorado.

Gladstone has entered into a four-year triple-net lease on the property, for which it paid $900,000.

In January, Gladstone disbursed $12.1 million in a combination of cash and stock to purchase a 16,595 acre farm devoted to growing hay in the same county of Colorado. That deal came after Gladstone made its first foray into the crop in August 2016, when it paid $11.4 million for a 7,384 acre hay farm in Colorado.

The farmland real estate investment trust’s president and chief executive David Gladstone said the purchase came at the request of an existing tenant looking to expand operations, demonstrating the company’s tenant-focused business model.

“Similar to our other purchases in Colorado, the soil on this farm is ideally suited to grow high-quality crops to serve the cattle industry,” Gladstone said. “This acquisition is expected to yield strong returns for us and was another opportunity to strengthen our relationship with a very strong tenant and further diversify our farmland portfolio.”

The firm added that hay from the Baca County farms will be sold into cattle feedlots throughout the Southern Plains and the US south-west.

Gladstone’s overall portfolio consists of 73 farms spread across nine US states, totaling 63,074 acres valued at $532 million.