AcreTrader Management (ATM) announced it has successfully exited a four-year investment in an Indiana row crop farm. AcreTrader initiated the investment in the 169-acre corn and soybean farm in November 2020. At the time of closing, the investment property, which is located in Huntington County’s Wabash River Valley, had delivered an 18 percent net internal rate of return (IRR) to investors. The total net cash return to investors was $2.4 million.

According to data compiled by Acres.com, the North Central Indiana farmland market has demonstrated price appreciation at an annualized rate of 6.5 percent since the end of 2020. By comparison, AcreTrader said its row crop farm achieved a 21 percent annualized appreciation.

Nationwide, the average value of cropland per acre reached new heights in 2024: $5,570 per acre, up $250 per acre (4.7 percent) from 2023, according to the US Department of Agriculture’s 2024 Land Values Summary, which was released in August.

The AcreTrader platform helps investors research, find, and purchase shares of farmland in minutes — a concept that Barron’s has described as “a Charles Schwab of acreage.” By supplying investors with groundbreaking data and market expertise, the company makes buying and selling of farmland easier and more transparent. At the same time, it elevates agriculture into a mainstream asset class. 

In a news release, ATM stated that the Indiana row crop farm is an example of the company’s strategy of “identifying opportunities to acquire farms below market value, and exiting when the right opportunities arise.” Other than some minimal tile ditch repairs, the company said no major capital expenditures were required during the four-year investment holding period.

“This is the 15th full-cycle investment where the company and the underlying farmland were managed by ATM,” said AcreTrader Managing Director of Investments Drew Lipke. “These exits have returned over $25 million to investors in the form of full return of principal, capital appreciation, and lease income.”