Jul 16, 2018

Five farms in Florida purchased by Gladstone Land

McLean, Virginia-based Gladstone Land Corp. NASDAQ:LAND) (“Gladstone Land” or the “Company”) announced that it has acquired five farms in southern Florida totaling 5,630 acres for approximately $37.4 million. Upon acquisition, Gladstone Land entered into a multi-year, triple-net lease with a leading agricultural operation.

“We are pleased to significantly increase our high-value, fruit and vegetable acreage in South Florida. This region has very fertile ground and many strong farm operators who we can partner with to continue expanding our farmland holdings in the region,” said Bill Frisbie, Managing Director of Gladstone Land. “Florida continues to experience strong population growth, which puts upward pressure on farmland values and rents as more acreage is taken out of production every year for development.”

“This acquisition adds another strong tenant and five additional top-tier farms growing healthy produce to our growing list of owned and leased farmland,” said David Gladstone, president and CEO of Gladstone Land. “We were able to quickly reinvest the proceeds from the recent sale of an Oregon farm into these larger and higher-yielding farms, and by executing this acquisition in conjunction with our recent sale of an Oregon farm through a like-kind exchange, we have deferred recognition of the capital gain we achieved on the sale. We hope to have several more acquisitions to announce over the second half of 2018.”

Gladstone Land is a publicly-traded real estate investment trust that invests in farmland and farm-related properties located in major agricultural markets in the U.S., which it leases to third-party farmers. 

Gladstone Land currently owns 79 farms, comprised of 67,060 acres in nine different states across the U.S., valued at approximately $558 million. Its acreage is predominantly concentrated in locations where its tenants are able to grow fresh produce annual row crops, such as berries and vegetables, which are generally planted and harvested annually, as well as permanent crops, such as almonds, blueberries, and pistachios, which are planted every 10 to 20-plus years.

The company may also acquire property related to farming, such as cooling facilities, processing buildings, packaging facilities, and distribution centers. Gladstone Land pays monthly distributions to its stockholders and has paid 65 consecutive monthly cash distributions on its common stock since its initial public offering in January 2013. The current per-share distribution rate on its common stock is $0.04435 per month, or $0.5322 per year. Additional information can be found at www.GladstoneLand.com and www.GladstoneFarms.com.