Inside FarmTogether's Approach to Farmland Management

Acquiring a farmland property is only one part of the investment process. Long before FarmTogether takes ownership, our investment and farm management teams have developed a detailed understanding of the asset and a plan for how it should be managed. Once the acquisition closes, the focus shifts from underwriting that plan to executing it—working closely with operators, monitoring agronomic and financial performance, and making informed decisions throughout the investment period.

For investors, much of this work happens behind the scenes. Yet it is an important part of FarmTogether's approach to farmland investing. Managing an agricultural asset requires oversight across soil health, water and irrigation, crop development, infrastructure, operating expenses, weather, pest pressure, and other factors that can influence a property's long-term performance.

We sat down with Gretchen Montague, FarmTogether's Head of Farm Management, to discuss what happens after FarmTogether acquires a property, how our team monitors an investment, and the level of detail involved in professionally managing farmland.

The Management Plan Starts Before Acquisition

Q: What happens once FarmTogether officially takes ownership of a property?

The process starts well before closing. By the time we acquire a farm, our team has already spent significant time evaluating the property and developing a detailed business plan. Our farm management team typically walks the property alongside the prospective operator, assesses its condition, evaluates key systems and infrastructure, and compares what we're observing in the field with the assumptions incorporated into our underwriting.

That work means we generally enter ownership with a clear understanding of the property's needs and our priorities for the investment. Depending on the asset, that might include pruning or other agronomic adjustments, irrigation improvements, soil work, redevelopment, or optimizing an established, mature orchard. We also work closely with the operator to establish the annual operating plan and budget, ensuring the agronomic strategy remains aligned with the investment objectives.

Those priorities can vary significantly from one property to another. Yield is important, but maximizing production in a single season is not necessarily the only objective. Because we're managing farmland over a multi-year investment horizon, we also consider the long-term health and productive capacity of the asset, including soil conditions, tree health, water efficiency, infrastructure, and the condition of the planting.

At one of our pistachio orchards, for example, we identified soil compaction and poor water infiltration associated with previous farming practices. One of our early management priorities was therefore soil remediation rather than simply maximizing near-term production. It's an example of why every property requires an individualized management strategy based on its crop, soil, water resources, infrastructure, growing region, and existing condition.

Monitoring What Is Happening in the Field

Q: Once you own the property, how do you determine whether it is performing as expected?

We're continually comparing what is happening on the farm with what we expected when we underwrote the investment, and that evaluation extends well beyond annual production. We conduct recurring property inspections where we assess tree uniformity, phenological development, soil moisture, irrigation performance, pest pressure, and overall field conditions. The objective is to understand not only what the farm is producing, but the underlying agronomic conditions contributing to that performance.

There is a surprising amount we can learn even when an orchard is dormant or there isn't fruit on the trees. Depending on the crop, we can evaluate tree and vine structure, canopy development, fruiting wood, leaf conditions, weed management, irrigation practices, and signs of issues such as salt toxicity or disease. Together, these observations provide a more complete picture of the health of the planting and how effectively the property is being managed.

We also use objective testing to validate what we're seeing in the field. Distribution uniformity testing, for example, allows us to assess whether water is being applied consistently throughout a property rather than simply confirming that the irrigation system is functioning. That distinction matters because irrigation also influences nutrient distribution; if water isn't reaching the field uniformly, fertilizer delivered through that system may not be distributed uniformly either.

This is where professional farmland management becomes much more detailed than simply tracking yield. Understanding the systems and conditions underlying production allows us to evaluate the health and performance of the asset throughout the investment period.

Connecting Farm Operations With Financial Performance

Q: How closely does the farm management team monitor the financial side of each property?

Very closely. Every property has an annual operating budget, but we don't establish it at the beginning of the year and wait until year-end to see how the farm performed. We break the budget down month by month and continually compare actual invoices and expenses with what we expected to spend.

That level of detail is particularly important in agriculture because operating conditions can change throughout a growing season. Weather can affect the timing of field work, pest pressure may alter a treatment program, and input availability or costs can shift. When an expense differs from the budget, we want to understand whether it reflects timing, a specific agronomic decision, or something that should be incorporated into future forecasts.

A significant portion of professional farm management therefore happens away from the field. Our team spends considerable time reviewing invoices, tracking budgets against actual expenses, evaluating operating decisions, communicating with operators, and comparing property performance with the expectations established during underwriting.

Agronomic and financial performance are closely connected. If we see something changing in the field, we want to understand the potential financial implications; if something changes in the financials, we want to understand what is happening operationally to explain it. Maintaining that connection gives us a deeper view into each property's performance.

Managing for the Specific Property and Growing Region

Q: How does FarmTogether account for the fact that its properties operate across different crops and growing regions?

There is no single approach that can be applied across every farm. Each crop and growing region presents a different combination of agronomic considerations, weather patterns, water resources, infrastructure requirements, and operating practices, which is why regional and crop-specific expertise is an important part of our management model.

The measures we take at a property in Washington, for example, can look very different from those at a property in California. In colder regions, protecting trees during dormancy can include insulating vulnerable parts of the tree against extreme temperatures. At certain California properties, meanwhile, we maintain infrastructure such as wind machines or overhead water systems for frost protection. Those systems may not be needed every year, but managing agricultural assets means understanding the conditions a property could encounter and ensuring the appropriate infrastructure and operating procedures are in place.

The same property-specific thinking extends across water, soils, pests, crop development, and infrastructure. Our objective is not to react to each season in isolation, but to understand the characteristics of an asset well enough to manage it with a long-term perspective.

Working Closely With Local Operators

Q: How involved is FarmTogether when an experienced operator is responsible for the day-to-day farming?

Very involved, but our role is different from that of the operator. We select operators because they bring valuable crop- and region-specific knowledge, and we want them applying that expertise to the day-to-day agronomic decisions on the property. FarmTogether provides another layer of oversight by connecting those decisions with the investment strategy, financial plan, and long-term objectives for the asset.

We have standing monthly meetings with every operator, although communication generally occurs much more frequently. Those conversations give us ongoing visibility into what is happening in the field, how the property is tracking against its budget, and whether changing conditions require adjustments to the operating plan. We also believe transparency should work both ways. Operators need to understand the financial objectives and parameters of the investment, just as our team needs to understand the agronomic reasoning behind their recommendations.

That combination of local operating expertise and FarmTogether's investment and farm management oversight is an important part of our approach. Rather than viewing the farm and the investment as two separate things, we're continually connecting the two and using information from both sides to inform our decisions.

Expertise Throughout the Investment Lifecycle

Very involved, but our role is different from that of the operator. We select operators for their crop- and region-specific knowledge and rely on them to apply that expertise to day-to-day agronomic decisions. FarmTogether provides another layer of oversight, connecting those decisions with the investment strategy, financial plan, and long-term objectives for the asset.

We have standing monthly meetings with every operator, although communication generally occurs more frequently. Those conversations give us ongoing visibility into what is happening in the field, how the property is tracking against its budget, and whether changing conditions require adjustments to the operating plan. Transparency works both ways: operators need to understand the financial objectives and parameters of the investment, just as our team needs to understand the agronomic reasoning behind their recommendations.

That combination of local operating expertise and FarmTogether's investment and farm management oversight allows us to continually connect what is happening on the farm with the broader objectives of the investment.