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Farmland Opportunity

Farmland Opportunity

Farmland Opportunity sources high-quality, consistently productive, row crop farmland located in the United States. Jay Girotto is the president of the group and is a native of Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Mr. Girotto has worked for Microsoft and Bain Capital, and has built two companies. He is a third-generation farmer and holds a BA and MBA degrees from Harvard University. The investment team has backgrounds in agronomy, drainage tile, precision farming, real estate law, and livestock as well as local networks for deal sourcing and identifying operators. In this podcast, Jay talks about his path to farmland investments and more.
Partner’s Highlights
  • Farmland Opportunity comprises 90,000 acres of investment-grade farmland valued at more than $400M;
  • Operations cover top row crops production regions across 10 states;

Sourcing & Underwriting

We look for off-market deals with the potential for us to add value through enhancing productivity and reclaiming tillable acreage.

  • Initial Due Diligence

    Farmland Opportunity’s investment team has expertise in land acquisition, soil fertility, drainage, real estate law, and asset management. Their strong industry relationships and local knowledge enable Farmland Opportunity to identify great deals for our investors.

  • Screening and Risk Management

    Farmland Opportunity performs extensive property and market level due diligence, including tenant profile and market research. Our farmers typically pay cash rent in advance of the planting season, so investors do not bear crop yield or price risks that year.

  • Investment Closing

    Once FarmTogether and Farmland Opportunity have a mutual agreement on acquiring the property, a closing process starts. Together with Farmland Opportunity, the investment team is responsible for legal due diligence, including title and insurance review, closing documents, wire in the funds to the closing agent.

  • Farmland Management

    Farmland Opportunity will be responsible for tenant oversight to collect payment for our investors and ensure long term land stewardship.

FarmTogether is an incredible platform that covers all aspects of farmland investing for retail investors. It's clean and made to be flexible enough to cover any requirement.

Jay Girotto
Founder, Farmland Opportunity

Case Study

McLeish Farm was a sale-leaseback opportunity with 130 tillable acres and 24 pasture acres at purchase. The farm came with an old house and a tree stand. During the prior 10 years, the farm was on a corn and soybeans rotation. Farmland Opportunity increased tillable acres by reclaiming pasture land, removing trees, and the house. Farmland productivity was improved by installing drainage on reclaimed land. In addition, Farmland Opportunity built a relationship with the owners of a hog facility to access manure to increase soil fertility and reduced input costs. Improvements required additional capital of 4.6% from the purchase price, which was partially offset by tax depreciation benefits.

  • 20%
    Increase in Target IRR
  • 15.4%
    Increase in Tillable Acres from 130 to 150 Acres
  • 14.7%
    Increase in Crop Productivity
    from 170 to 195 Bushels
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Management

Jay Girotto

Jay is a 3rd generation landowner and a founder of Farmland Opportunity, a US row crops investment fund. Today, Jay manages over $400M and 90,000+ acres of institutional quality farmland in 10 states. Previously, Jay worked at Microsoft, Bain, and founded two technology companies. He earned his BA and an MBA from Harvard University.

Pete Volk

Pete has over 20 years experience in private practice and state government. He has extensive knowledge of farm real estate, agricultural law and business entity planning for family farms. He earned his J.D. from Idaho College of Law and B.A. from Washington State.

Cody Shay

Prior to Farmland Opportunity Cody founded Advanced Ag, LLC in Creston, IA, built it to $20M in sales before selling to Wilbur Ellis. He earned his B.S. in Agriculture Business from Iowa State University.

Matt Norman

Matt is a 4th generation grain and livestock farm family. He worked for Elanco Animal Health division of Eli Lilly in sale and marketing. He earned his B.S. in Agronomy and Agriculture Business from Iowa State University.

Jason Rowe

Jason is a 4th generation dairy farm family and former seed, fertilizer sales representative for Harvest States and Dairyland Seed. Prior he was general manager of fertilizer plant, WS Ag Center. He earned his B.S. in Agronomy from University of Wisconsin.

Let’s Grow Together

FarmTogether is looking for partners who align with our values and are ready to bring institutional-grade farmland directly to investors.