real assets

Institutional investors would like to deploy more capital into agriculture but a lack of experience among GPs is giving LPs pause for thought, the Agri Investor Chicago Forum 2019 heard.

An upcoming real asset structure review will consider a proposed build-out that could initially include up to four natural resources commitments of between $75m and $500m annually through 2024.

New Jersey Division of Investment and Rhode Island State Investment Authority are among investors to have made commitments towards the farmland fund.

Managing partner David Chattleton says for the 'first time in six to seven years' it is an ideal moment to deploy equity, after raising $60m for two ag funds.

bfinance director Guy Hopgood says investor demand in ag is being fed by the return of capital held in real estate and infrastructure vehicles nearing the end of their lives.

Texas TRS senior investment manager Carolyn Hansard says the $152bn pension is revisiting the farmland market, in part because land could compliment existing investments with Paine Schwartz.

Subsidies, tax advantages and demand from lifestyle buyers combined over the last decade to more than double UK farmland prices – post-Brexit demand will be all about farmland quality, predicts Matthew Berryman

Peoples Company president Steve Bruere says a number of factors have contributed to recent optimism in farmland markets, which has him feeling bullish for the first time in five years.

‘You shouldn’t be surprised if soil health comes into the KPI process,’ says the firm’s head of sustainability.

A USDA-backed report has provided clear direction for private fund managers interested in tapping growing institutional demand for regenerative agricultural investment strategies.