Crops

Paine Schwartz partner Angelos Dassios says Verisem will look to acquire peers as it seeks to fill a niche overlooked by breeders and distributors.

An examination of global agriculture reveals both encouraging signs of near-term opportunity and large uncertainties about the future, according to panelists at the Agri Investor Forum in Chicago on Wednesday.

Demand for organic food continues to vastly outstrip production growth. For growers and investors, the widening gap translates into big premiums for certified crops – and more stable prices, delegates heard at the Agri Investor Forum on Wednesday.

Known as the country’s ‘food bowl’, the region’s capacity for year-round crop production as well as permanent plantings is a major draw for institutional investors – both domestic and foreign.

Nick Stokes will work across the Iowa-based firm’s alternative lending platforms, the latest of which focuses on borrowers that do not meet traditional underwriting criteria.

Strong demand for maize in China and the US will eat into global reserves but it remains a mixed bag elsewhere. We sum up supply and demand across markets in a few charts.

The purchase of a 3,500-ton facility follows the acquisitions of two similar elevators in Canada and marks the start of Pipeline Foods’ efforts to assemble a supply chain for organic grains and oils.

The farmland REIT paid nearly $1m for a 1,280 acre add-on to the hay growing operations of an existing tenant.

The vehicle will seek low-teen returns through investments in farmland and processing assets devoted to sustainable production of tree nuts, citrus and blueberries.

The agriculture IoT start-up has raised fresh funds from Tencent and Syngenta Ventures, an existing investor.