Introduction to Farmland Investing

Farmland has experienced historically less volatility than both traditional and alternative asset classes. It has historically provided stability for investors during market downturns.

A Historically Stable and Uncorrelated Real Asset

Farmland has delivered strong returns with lower volatility than most major asset classes over the past 30 years.

Asset Class Performance (1992-2025)

Average Annual Return¹

Volatility²

Sharpe Ratio³

Correlation to CPI⁴

Farmland

9.84%

6.94%

1.02

0.10

US Stocks

10.73%

17.36%

0.46

-0.32

US Bonds

4.51%

5.39%

0.32

-0.38

Real Estate

7.53%

7.93%

0.60

0.08

US REITs

9.10%

18.56%

0.34

-0.21

Timberland

8.54%

8.31%

0.69

0.36

Gold

7.66%

17.55%

0.28

-0.08

Data are based on annual total returns from January 1, 1992 through December 31, 2025.

Sources: Privately Held U.S. Farmland - NCREIF Farmland Index; Stocks - S&P 500; Bonds - Bloomberg Barclays U.S. Aggregate Index; Privately Held U.S. Commercial Real Estate - NCREIF Real Estate Index; Publicly Traded U.S. REITs - FTSE Nareit U.S. Real Estate Index. Timberland - NCREIF Timberland Property Index; Gold - LBMA Precious Metal Prices. Indexes are unmanaged and unavailable for direct investment.

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While alternative investments cover a broad range of financial strategies, assets, and instruments, there is one that has historically stood out: farmland.

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