Investors
Farmland Checks Every Box
Robert Kiyosaki, the author of Rich Dad Poor Dad, put it simply in a recent video: "Bill Gates is buying farmland. China is buying farmland. This isn't a coincidence; it's positioning."
He didn't stop there. "Pension funds are doing the same. So are insurance companies. So are sovereign wealth funds. Eight billion people need to eat every day. No alternatives, no upgrades. Farmland checks every box."
He's right about who's buying. Bill Gates owns about 275,000 acres of land in America, most of it productive farmland, according to the Land Report. Reports put Chinese holdings of U.S. agricultural land at more than 380,000 acres.
And closer to home, Stan Kroenke, whose company owns the Denver Nuggets and the Colorado Avalanche, just became America's largest private landowner. After buying nearly a million acres of New Mexico ranchland, he now owns more than 2.7 million acres, according to the Land Report.
Why land
The case for farmland is an old one, and it's simple. People will always need to eat. Good land is limited, and they aren't making more of it. And a working farm produces something real every year, food, not just a number on a screen.
That's why the biggest and most patient investors in the world keep adding it.
The catch for the rest of us
Most families can't buy a farm. The land alone is out of reach, and running a farm or ranch well takes equipment, people, and know-how most of us don't have.
Meanwhile, a generation of farmers and ranchers is reaching retirement. In the U.S., 38 percent of farm producers are 65 or older, and about 300 million acres of farm and ranch land are expected to change hands in the coming decades. Someone will own that land. The question is who, and what they'll do with it.
What we're working to do
At Omega, we believe working farms and ranches should stay working, and stay in good hands.
We're building a way for investors to own a share of established farms, ranches, and the businesses that support them, without having to buy or run one on their own. Each property is held in its own entity, so investors know exactly what they own. And it's land you can actually visit: the ranch where the cattle are raised, the plant where the beef is cut.
The difference is in why we own it. We aren't buying land to sit on it or to flip it. We're buying to keep it working, to keep the families and crews who know it best, and to keep it producing food for the next generation. That's what we call preservation equity.
An honest word
Farmland isn't a get-rich-quick idea. It's a long, patient business. Margins can be thin, cattle and crop prices swing with markets no farmer controls, and a ranch can be worth millions and still struggle to pay its own way. That's why we underwrite every property for the bad years, not just the good ones.
Kiyosaki is right that farmland checks a lot of boxes. We'd add one more: who owns it matters.
Watch Robert Kiyosaki's video: on Facebook →
Jodi Ashton, Founder & Managing Director
This post is for general information only. It is not investment advice or an offer to sell, or a solicitation of an offer to buy, any security. Any offering will be made only to accredited investors through formal offering documents. Investing in farmland and agricultural businesses involves risk, including the possible loss of capital.
Photo: A farm below the Colorado foothills in fall. Photo by Jodi Ashton.