Farmland Partners Nets 24% Gain

Farmland Partners Inc. (FPI) announced the sale of 2,426 acres of farmland in Nebraska and South Carolina to the tenants currently renting the properties. The combined transactions totaled $16.2 million. Together, the two sales represented a gain of more than $3.1 million. According to Farmland Partners, this equated to approximately 24 percent over net book value. The transactions were announced on May 15.

Farmland Partners

The nation’s largest publicly traded farmland real estate investment trust (REIT), Farmland Partners purchases, leases, and manages high-quality farmland throughout North America. It trades on the New York Stock Exchange. In 2022, the company invested $54.4 million acquiring new holdings, including a 158-acre irrigated row crop farm in Nebraska for $2 million, 161 acres of cropland in Indiana for $2.1 million, 270 acres of corn and soybean ground in Illinois for $3.36 million, and a 3,843-acre Texas potato farm for $12.1 million.

On the sell side in 2022, FPI realized a net gain of nearly $2.3 million, or 132 percent, when it sold 303 acres of North Carolina farmland to a large solar power developer for $4 million. The acreage was part of a 944-acre farm that FPI acquired in 2015. The remaining 641 acres continue to be rented to a local farmer. In a statement, Executive Chairman Paul Pittman said, “This sale is great news for our shareholders because of the more than 2X gain we achieved. It’s also emblematic of our Company’s strategy to work with renewable energy producers, when possible, to maximize returns and benefit the environment.”

Crop Breakdown

According to the most recent figures, FPI’s current portfolio of more than 340 farms consists of 195,000 acres owned or leased. Tenants on Farmland Partners’ ground produce 26 crops. Seventy percent of this portfolio (by value) is in traditional row crops such as corn, soybeans, and wheat. Thirty percent of this portfolio (by value) is in specialty crops such as tree nuts, fruits, and vegetables. Currently, there is a zero vacancy rate on FPI’s landholdings.