The firm has added the leafy greens business to its portfolio of companies which includes permanent crops businesses and an irrigation solutions provider.
Co-founders Ellie Rubenstein and Ross Iverson discuss the added value role the firm plays for LPs and why they receive queries about their portfolio companies as soon as they close a deal.
The firm intends to transition the whole farm to organic certified production and will use regenerative practices such as planting cover crops between tree rows.
The separate account’s buy-and-lease strategy was trialed by the GP in 2019 and involves a flex lease arrangement that is conducive to organic farming.
At least five parties have reportedly expressed interest in assets that include a soybean processing facility, an ancient grains unit and storage facilities devoted to organic and non-GMO supply.
The bloc’s farm-to-fork strategy includes strong environmental targets, but simply creating organic supply will not be enough to sustainably reconfigure its food supply chain.
Direction of travel signaled by the bloc over the past few years is creating a fundraising environment beneficial to start-ups and is now backed by a sustainability conscious subsidy package.
Plans to reduce use of harmful pesticide and fertilizer products, converting 25% of farmland to organic and incentivizing carbon sequestration is what the industry needs.