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Gladstone REIT hires Midwest manager

The listed real estate investment trust has hired Bill Hughes to handle acquisitions and farm management in the Midwest region.

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Gladstone Land, the farmland real estate investment trust (REIT), has hired William “Bill” Hughes from US Trust, Bank of America Merrill Lynch’s private banking arm, to head up the REIT’s Midwest US acquisition and farm management efforts.

Hughes will be located near St Louis, Missouri, and will be looking for farms that produce fruits and vegetables such as sweet corn, green beans, melons, potatoes, cabbage and other fresh produce, according to a press release. He might also look for farms that grow permanent crops.

This is the first time Gladstone has had dedicated personnel in the region.

Before joining Gladstone, Hughes was a manager at US Trust, purchasing and managing farms for individual investors. He has 20 years of experience in the farm business, according to the release.

Gladstone recently increased its dividend for the first time and bought a Salinas-based strawberry farm.

It was trading on the NASDAQ at $10.7 a share when Agri Investor went to press.