152 Chris Rawley - Investing In Farmland To Beat The S&P

Interview with Chris Rawley   Not a farmer Did not grow up in the ag world Military - Navy Went to work in real estate First alt investing was real estate Worked in different industries Few years ago became enamored in ag as asset class Ag is an asset class that is taken for granted Crowdfunding act of 2012 for investors Pooling small $ together to buy larger assets Allowed retail crowdfunding for non-accredited investors A number of real estate funds focusing on apt buildings, etc Created “harvest returns” about a year ago Put money in private placements of ag Have investors w existing land and make the opportunity available for investors Focused on the production side (crops, land, etc) HR focused on accredited investors Non-accredited by end of the year Reasons to invest in ag World population Urbanization - arable land is shrinking Wealthy populations shift from plant protein to animal protein, more ag devoted to protein Returns Farmland has outpaced S&P;, reits, gold, since 1970 The underlying land Price of crops has increased Operations of the land Tangible Like real estate Real land Returns positively correlated to inflation Common investment for large institutions Very challenging to access these investments There are some farmland and timberland REITs Problem: correlated with greater stock market There are some funds but have really high minimums ($250K) Liquidity is a double-edged sword Allowing on the marketplace: Confidence in management team Location, trends Expected returns Regulatory environment Act of 2012 SEC published rules for Big learning curve regarding regulation How will you validate yourself to a skeptical market? Why is ag a good investment? Why crowdsourcing a safe/good idea? Learning curve on the farmer side Looking for people raising $500K-$2M Sale/leaseback deals Provide creative financing opportunities How much of portfolio? ~5-15% https://www.harvestreturns.com/ http://investorinthefamily.com/