Those of you who have been with me for the past 4 months will probably remember my All Points Bulletin (APB)  reach out when one of the farm properties we rent came up for sale and we desperately wanted to hang onto it because we have 3 hoop houses over there that we didn't want to relocate.

             Several of you kind souls have asked about what happened.  I'm thrilled, gratified, and blessed beyond words to let you know that somebody in our fan base with the wherewithal to do it stepped right up and bought the place.  The new owners are not farmers but have read all my books, totally get what we're doing in a  macro-healing mission, and are gung-ho to continue the work on that property.  When I threw out the hook I knew it was a long shot. 

             Not everybody has $700,000 sitting around to invest in something as non-fluid as farmland, but I'm thankful somebody was able. 

             Another of our leased properties sold this year to two different  parties (it got split) and unbelievably, we've retained our relationship there as well.  A third one-yes, what are the chances that 3 of our leased properties get sold in the same year?--changed ownership and we did NOT retain our lease there.  Two out of three ain't bad, as these things go.  In fact, it's downright miraculous.

             We had about 30 responses to the shout out and the most common request was "we can't do the whole thing, but we'd love to collaborate."  I can't tell you how I'd like to do that.  Plenty of people would love to throw in $10,000 or $100,000 to co-own a piece of property managed by Polyface, but blue sky laws prohibit such collaborations.  The anti-scam regulations are written so tightly that putting together money for something like this, among a small group, is for all intents and purposes, impossible 

             The impossible, though, simply takes a little longer.  We did have a couple of sharp business people/attorney types who promised to sleuth on this angle and I'm waiting for information from them.  One idea is a Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) but that requires 100 people.  Another option is crowd funding but that's too much like panhandling for me.  So we're still searching for a vehicle or a platform that would allow people to collaboratively invest in farmland under our management.

             Another two pieces of property nearby are available, with good pricing and great opportunity, so the need is ongoing and the vision exciting.  As farmers continue to age out, we think this trend will continue.  As you can see, when you lease land it's quite fluid.  The one we lost this year was only owned by a couple for fewer than 5 years.  People come and go so a land-based enterprise like ours is vulnerable to capricious ownership.  That's a reason to lock down a few pieces that are fairly stable for the long haul.

             Why doesn't Polyface buy the properties?  Because we're leveraged all we'd like to be and we want to invest in other things to make the farm, and these properties, more productive and resilient.  Like ponds.  Like composting.  Like land management, which requires people  So we invest in people who share our love of the land and who can caress it into great abundance.  This is redemption in a broad sense.  That means we invest our resources more in ongoing land healing projects.  We need partners who will share the ownership part. And farmland ownership is not like commercial or residential where you can rent it for enough to make payments.  The ratios are skewed completely inverse from other real estate.

             That's the update.  Thank you for caring.

             Want to buy a farm property for Polyface to manage?