HighQuest Partners examines how farmland evolved from a fragmented agricultural holding into an institutional asset class tied to inflation protection, portfolio diversification, and global food demand. The paper highlights how pension funds and endowments accelerated allocations after 2008, even as cyclical commodity downturns periodically challenged return expectations.
History of Institutional Farmland Investment
HighQuest Partners
Julie Koeninger
Research
15 Pages
Key Takeaways
Institutional Capital Expanded: Institutional farmland assets grew from roughly $6 billion in 2005 to more than $30 billion by 2015 as pensions increased real asset exposure.
Farmland Outperformed Inflation: U.S. farmland generated annual returns above 10% over multiple decades while historically maintaining lower volatility than many traditional asset classes.
Commodity Cycles Matter: Following the 2013 commodity peak, corn prices declined nearly 50%, pressuring farmland valuations and testing assumptions around steady appreciation.
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