USDA-backed Advantage Capital inks biomass deal

Advantage Capital Agribusiness Partners invested $7m in Pacific Ag, which harvests and sells crop waste.

Advantage Capital Agribusiness Partners (ACAP), the USDA and Farm Credit System-backed private equity fund, has invested $7 million in Pacific Ag, which harvests and sells crop residue and hay.

The funding will be used to expand Pacific’s operations across the US, as demand for agri biomass increases in the bio-refining, animal protein and composting markets, according to a statement.

Pacific also signed a deal to harvest an extra 40,000 acres a year, a 25 percent increase.

“Pacific Ag is part of a growing agricultural movement dedicated to sustainably extracting more value from each cultivated acre by turning ‘waste’ materials into feedstock for multiple markets and industrial applications,” Tim Hassler, principal at ACAP, said in a statement.

ACAP has made three previous investments: Iowa Cage-Free in February, American Botanicals in April, and precision irrigation management company Hortau in June.

A Rural Business Investment Company (RBIC), ACAP is a $154.5 million fund investing in the production, processing and supply of agricultural products in the rural US.

Two venture capital firms announced earlier this year that they have started raising capital to join ACAP as RBICs.