2014 Farmland Deal of the Year

The multistate Proventus Portfolio totaling 13,450 acres in the Midwest, Delta, Southwest, and Rocky Mountains sold for more than $46 million. The massive sale required four days of auctions by Schrader Real Estate and Auction Company.
“We had good results on all four days,” said R.D. Schrader, president of the auction company. “Our sellers were extremely pleased, and I think these sales demonstrated the continuing strength of the market over a broad geographic range. Each auction had a capacity crowd with strong competition.”
The four-day event began on Monday, October 20, with the auctions of two farms totaling 655 acres in Illinois for $7,650,000. Two days later, an auction of some 4,783 acres of cropland in Arkansas, Louisiana, and Mississippi generated $16,993,200. Two days later, two farms in the Texas Panhandle totaling 6,054 acres sold for $15,045,000. The final auction, of 1,958 acres in Colorado, grossed $6,630,000.
“Bidders are seeking to balance lower commodity prices with the substantial amounts of capital that buyers are seeking to invest. There’s no question that lower commodity prices are a factor in the marketplace. On the other hand, with interest rates near all-time lows and the stock market showing extreme volatility, there are still few investments that can match farmland for stability and long-term returns,” said Schrader.
“Farmers were active in every auction, but when it came to entering the last bid, it was investors purchasing much of this land. This runs counter to the trend we’ve seen recently of farmers buying most of the farmland at auction, but investors have been very aggressive,” said Schrader.