In 2009, Farmland purchased its very first farm. It was located in Willamette Valley near Corvallis in Oregon. This, however, is far from what Farmland owns today: 5,800 acres in the Sacramento River delta and 950 in Corvallis. Over 10% of these lands are organic; the rest are on transition.With the help of Farmland’s team, who have been exposed extensively to real estate, soil biology, agriculture and farm management, the company was able to develop a new model on how farmlands should be managed. The life blood of the new model lies on maintaining soil fertility and enhancing the farm’s productivity via crop rotation and livestock. Simply put, Farmland has applied modern scientific procedures to proven methods that the farmers of old have been using for a long time.
Here’s how Farmland transforms modern agriculture. Farmland will seek, acquire and manage farmlands near locations with high demand for organic food. If the farmland uses conventional farming, Farmland will convert it into an organic farmland that uses crop rotations and pastured livestock. For large areas, Farmland will consolidate the acreage in order to improve the economies of scale. Multiple use of farmlands enhance productivity and to align the interests of the stakeholders. Once operational, Farmland will seek to participate in the efforts to develop the local and regional food systems. In more proactive way, Farmland will engage all stakeholders to make their farmlands as positive environmental assets.
Farmland was founded by serial entrepreneur Craig Wichner. He is confident that Farmland’s model is not only financially beneficial but ecologically advantageous. In the last decade, revenues of organic foods have doubled and is expected to exceed $28 billion every year.