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February is Farmland LP’s fourth anniversary.
In February 2009, Craig, I, and a couple of other friends took a week-long road trip to Oregon’s Willamette Valley to look at buying farmland. We saw a wonderful opportunity to convert conventional farmland to organic and sustainable farmland. Still, it also became clear that to make a difference, we would require more capital and brilliant people than we could fit in our car.
Sustainable agriculture is a team sport, requiring financing, sufficient farmland, agronomists, livestock and crop farmers, real estate management, fund management, and much more. On the drive home from that road trip, we crafted Farmland LP almost exactly in its current form and began working full time on our passion.
I moved my family to Corvallis on Labor Day weekend 2009. By February 2010 the fund had purchased 154 acres near Corvallis. It took until April of 2011 to add another 112 acres a few miles from our first property.
In 2012, we purchased the 1,114-acre Brentwood Creek Farm in California in February, another property near Corvallis at 692 acres in March, and finally the 4,200-acre Burns Farm near Tracy, CA, in late December—a lovely way to end the year.
Chris Hansen of Mosaic Farms was one of the first to lease land from us, and he still does today. Here he is pictured with some of his prize-winning pastured hogs at Fern Rd Farm in the summer of 2010.
This has been a lot of work and a wonderful personal experience for both of us. We have met so many exceptional people, such as our 75 investors who trust us, the land sellers, the dedicated farmers and ranchers we work with, the wise people who buy our farmers’ products while appreciating great food and the long-term stewardship of the land, and finally, those who cheer us on. Thank you.
Our first fund will close soon with 6300 acres and over $43 million in assets. We consider this a great start in transforming our agricultural system into an economically and environmentally sustainable one while producing abundant food for all humanity. We look forward to continuing to do this for many years.