Key Highlights
Stagflation Insurance:
Farmland appreciated ~300% in real terms during the 1970s when public equities, CRE and bonds experienced high volatility and negative real returns.
Reliable Diversifier:
Farmland is a diversifier with low long- and short-term correlation to public equities and bonds and it diversifies when you need it most during public market events.
Volatility Damper:
Farmland dampens portfolio volatility while providing public marketlike returns. Over the 60-year period from 1954 to 2021 farmland had approximately the same rate of return as the S&P, but with ~50 percent less volatility.
Upside versus Downside Capture:
Farmland has provided strong positive returns in both S&P down and up markets (using the 30-year period from 1992 to 2022 - upside capture = 39.1, downside capture = -44.1). Farmland outperforms many other conventional and alternative asset classes in both this defensive and upside performance.