Total Produce

Grows vegetables. Traded on the London Stock Exchange.

Here's their annual report:

http://ww7.investorrelations.co.uk/totalproduce/uploads/reports/Total_Produce_AR_2008.pdf

Whither Agrarius?

A German company came on the scene looking to raise a few million dollars for the purpose of purchasing land in EU for farming. They had a public offering of shares on the German stockmarket, and looks like they couldn't raise all the cash they were looking for, so are returning the money. D'oh! They report in a press release that they are going to reorient to provide third party services to investors. Good luck with that. http://www.agrarius.de/files/20090414_mitteilung_absage_der_kapitalerhoehung__en.pdf

AGRARIUS AG

Black Earth Farming

This fund is seeking investors. They are located in Sweden, and it looks like you have to buy shares from the fund itself. Here's the prospectus. Pretty strong warning to US investors in the prospectus--they didn't register with the SEC, so it's really not offered to US investors. 16 pages of risk factors.

http://blackearthfarming.com/files/BEF_Int+Prospectus_Non_US.pdf

ANGLO-EASTERN PLANTATIONS AEP

Publicly traded in UK, volume is light. Owns and operates palm oil and rubber farms in Malaysia.

Bonifiche Ferraresi is an Italian company that evidently owns its own farms in Italy, and cultivates corn. Rising share price. There is a lot of information on their website, if you read Italian.

Landkom

Leases land in Ukraine for production of oil seeds used for biodiesel and animal feed. These guys have about as much land as Chaoda: 50,000 hectares. Does Landkom have better access to private equity fund raising because the stock is traded in London?

I guess I am looking for a pure grain production play, since wheat, corn, and soy can be used so many different ways.

Chinese government seems to control grain production, so good luck finding a publicly traded company that captures this on Chinese mainland.

NZFSU is a New Zealand traded security that invests in Uruguay farmland

CRESY is traded in USA, but owns a lot of urban real estate, exciting to some for its upside potential, scary to others because of high levels of debt. http://seekingalpha.com/article/100434-cresud-where-the-safe-money-is-going

Chinese agriculture stock

http://www.google.com/finance?q=SHA:600598

Chaoda traded in Hong Kong

http://biz.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2008/1/11/business/19962331&sec=business

http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2007/12/13/business/19747560&sec=business

Summary from 2008, nice article

http://seekingalpha.com/article/88282-all-about-investing-in-agricultural-land

Meeting in June--Global Ag Investing Symposium NYC

$1800 registration fee. Any takers?

http://www.soyatech.com/news_story.php?id=13724

Rich guys take note--Africa Land Fund taking investments

African Agricultural Land Fund looks to be open for business. Minimum investment: 500,000 euros.

Farmland continues to be the way rich people consolidate their wealth.

The economies of scale are such that you need vast capital to make land buying worthwhile, I think.

http://www.eaml.net/templates/Emergent/content.asp?PageId=296

Ag REITs in Bulgaria

Has anyone else noticed that there are a ton of agricultural investing funds in Bulgaria? What is it about Bulgaria that makes it have ten publicly-traded ag funds, while around the world, there are almost none? Ok, so Cresud sort of counts, but otherwise, what else is there?

I personally would sooner set money on fire than send it to Bulgaria for ownership of farm land there, but the idea is intriguing. If they can do it there, surely someone could do it in the USA?

Publicly traded ranch USA

Tejon Ranch is NYSE traded at TRC. You are essentially buying a piece of a 270,000 acre ranch at the "Grapevine," a vast tract of land where the I-5 ascends out of LA and into Bakersfield.

Looks like most of the land is going to be set aside for conservation. There is some pistachio and wheat farming, and some fuel use, but otherwise it looks like development is slow. I am conducting further research.

I also found a REIT called the Shopoff REIT. There are a group of guys in Irvine (?) who are putting together a $200 million fund to buy distressed land for redevelopment. They seem to have a strong track record (at least their successes that they reveal), but you have to buy shares in their REIT through their private broker, and the shares don't seem to be too liquid. Why didn't they list on a major exchange? I want to buy through E*Trade.

Ted Turner or other billionaires, if you are reading this, please please create a land REIT that enables investors to purchase agricultural land as a security.