It’s a truism of the financial industry that market volatility has taken its toll on every asset class. Over the last several decades, however, there is one asset that has remained relatively stable: agricultural land. And now, with newcomers in retail fintech such as the startup Farm Together, it appears that farmland is poised to increase in value as new investors are lining up to bet everything on the farm.
Farm Together is one of a recent crop of retail investment platforms that directs funding toward natural resources including agricultural land. According to the firm’s CEO, Artem Milinchuk, investments in resources such as agricultural land are positioned to benefit from the asset’s proven flexibility and “can provide passive income and hedging in almost all economic situations.”
Naturally, agricultural land as an investment is not without its risks. Numerous economic downturns in the 20th century, from the Great Depression to the recession in the 1980s, saw marked drops in the value of farmland despite increased productivity stemming from technological advances. The trend in farmland value has been steadily upward since 1987, though, and like many other industries this asset has been fortunately resilient in recovering from the COVID-19 downturn.
