by Craig Wichner, Farmland LP
Long before private equity firms raised their first fund or real estate investment trusts filed their first prospectus, land was wealth. Farmland is the oldest store of value in human history and the foundation of every economy that followed.
Yet today, institutions own less than 2% of U.S. farmland. The entire institutional farmland market, roughly $50 billion, would barely register as a line item against the $33 trillion alternatives industry. Private equity, private credit, and commercial real estate dominate the conversation. Farmland, the original alternative asset, barely gets a seat at the table. That is now starting to change, and the reasons go well beyond nostalgia for a simpler asset class.
The Numbers That Got Their Attention
In 2025, Nuveen launched a $3 billion private farmland REIT, the first of its kind from a major institutional manager. PGIM Real Estate now manages over $10 billion in agriculture. Pension funds, endowments, and sovereign wealth funds are building dedicated farmland allocations for the first time.
The performance data explains why. Since 1992, the NCREIF Farmland Index has returned 10.49% annualized, comparable to the S&P 500 which returned 10.65% and commercial real estate 8.33%. And with much less volatility...
Read more about all of this and the growing $70+ billion Organic marketplace in Craig's full article here - https://greenmoney.com/farmland-as-the-original-alternative-asset
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