TECHNOLOGY MAKES ACRETRADER INVESTING PLATFORM POSSIBLE

By Becky Gillette

Want to own some farmland but can’t afford to buy an entire farm? AcreTrader, based in Fayetteville, gives people an opportunity to invest in agricultural operations while providing farmers financial resources to grow their businesses.

AcreTrader Founder and CEO Carter Malloy said the company broadens investment access to a tangible asset class.

“Technology plays a crucial role in our business, impacting day-to-day communications with investors, farmers and operators across the country, as well as Australia,” Malloy said.

Malloy said there has been a surge in interest in investing in farmland over the past few years for several reasons.

“Globally, we are reliant on food, fuel and fiber, and U.S. farmland serves as an important piece of the global food supply,” Malloy said. “Historically, farmland has had little to no correlation with assets in publicly traded markets, whether that be stocks, bonds, real estate investment trusts, etc.

“During recent recessionary environments, farmland has historically produced consistently positive returns. Finally, farmland could be a strong inflation hedge. Uncorrelated to other asset classes, farmland is an intriguing option in today’s economic environment as the U.S. faces inflation rates not seen in decades.”

Another company under their umbrella is Acres, which Malloy describes as “a user-friendly land analysis platform designed to help bring transparency to the existing opaque land market.

“Born out of AcreTrader’s due diligence process on the farms they offer on their platform, Acres brings together powerful insights for about 150 million parcels throughout the U.S. Acres allows ag professionals, landowners and the like to see insights like comparable sales data, historical satellite imagery, vegetation index and more.”

Individuals can get started on the platform for free or upgrade for professional features, like portfolio management. Malloy said within AcreTrader and Acres, technology is the thread that runs throughout, allowing their teams the tools to make buying and selling land common, transparent and easy.

“Farmland has historically yielded consistent returns and outperformed during volatile market conditions,” Malloy said. “Farmland is a hard asset, and it has historically performed well with low volatility compared to other asset classes, such as gold or other forms of real estate. While the value of gold or stock markets can fall significantly in a single year, farmland returns have been positive every year since 1990, the first year of the NCREIF Farmland Index.”