Thursday, June 18, 2009
Florida land holding company
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Alico-Has-Got-Large-Tracts-of-tsmp-4261968369.html?x=0&.v=1
Alico is publicly traded land ownership firm. Citrus, sugar, and cattle. They pay a $.13/share dividend
Alico is publicly traded land ownership firm. Citrus, sugar, and cattle. They pay a $.13/share dividend
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Be careful before buying land
I cannot deny the attraction of directly owning farm land.
I think the reason companies have stayed away from collecting land, so to speak, is that it's really hard.
There is a lady who is starting to do just this: Shonda Warner. Meet the next Master of the Universe. She revealed some of her secrets in a great, long Fortune article this week:
http://money.cnn.com/2009/06/08/retirement/betting_the_farm.fortune/index.htm?postversion=2009061112
Here's what she says:
Stay away from overpriced land in Illinois and Iowa. She focuses on Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri, and Texas as well as Mississippi.
You have to understand things like 10 year yield trends and soil.
I think the secret to owning a farm is this: any fool can buy a plot of land, but making money can be another story entirely.
Warner already closed a $20 million agricultural hedge fund for Chess Capital Partners, and sounds like she's starting another one.
I think the reason companies have stayed away from collecting land, so to speak, is that it's really hard.
There is a lady who is starting to do just this: Shonda Warner. Meet the next Master of the Universe. She revealed some of her secrets in a great, long Fortune article this week:
http://money.cnn.com/2009/06/08/retirement/betting_the_farm.fortune/index.htm?postversion=2009061112
Here's what she says:
Stay away from overpriced land in Illinois and Iowa. She focuses on Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri, and Texas as well as Mississippi.
You have to understand things like 10 year yield trends and soil.
I think the secret to owning a farm is this: any fool can buy a plot of land, but making money can be another story entirely.
Warner already closed a $20 million agricultural hedge fund for Chess Capital Partners, and sounds like she's starting another one.
Monday, June 1, 2009
What's so bad about owning agricultural land?
Why is it that no companies own farmland?
Companies that want to syndicate investments in farmland are not able to do it, except on a piecemeal basis.
None of the Agribusiness companies in USA own land. They own grain elevators and terminals and mills, but not farmland. They extrude vegetables into shapes, cook them, add flavorings, package into frozen dinners, but when it comes to actually growing the ingredients, they "source" it. Why? You would think these big companies would want to control even the early part of the supply chain, to have better control over costs. Now, they are subject to the gyrations of the commodity markets, which reflect not only drought and labor costs, but speculation as well.
Even Cresud in Argentina doesn't exclusively own farmland--they bought a bunch of real estate in Buenos Aires. The attention span of even rare companies that seek to invest in ag real estate is short.
Is farmland too boring? Do shareholders only lust for the shiny objects that big companies build on top of farmland, but not the actual land itself? Ask Ted Turner if land is boring--he managed to convert plenty of Time-Warner stock into ranches.
REITs: plenty of shopping center ones and apartment complex ones, but farmland ones? Not so much.
Companies that want to syndicate investments in farmland are not able to do it, except on a piecemeal basis.
None of the Agribusiness companies in USA own land. They own grain elevators and terminals and mills, but not farmland. They extrude vegetables into shapes, cook them, add flavorings, package into frozen dinners, but when it comes to actually growing the ingredients, they "source" it. Why? You would think these big companies would want to control even the early part of the supply chain, to have better control over costs. Now, they are subject to the gyrations of the commodity markets, which reflect not only drought and labor costs, but speculation as well.
Even Cresud in Argentina doesn't exclusively own farmland--they bought a bunch of real estate in Buenos Aires. The attention span of even rare companies that seek to invest in ag real estate is short.
Is farmland too boring? Do shareholders only lust for the shiny objects that big companies build on top of farmland, but not the actual land itself? Ask Ted Turner if land is boring--he managed to convert plenty of Time-Warner stock into ranches.
REITs: plenty of shopping center ones and apartment complex ones, but farmland ones? Not so much.
Sunday, May 31, 2009
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
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
AGRARIUS AG
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