Day: December 8, 2025

The North Africa Agricultural Investment Thesis: Mediterranean Permanent Crops at Desert Economics

By Anas BaChar, co-managing director, Africa Organics The institutional agricultural investment community has concentrated capital in familiar geographies – California, the U.S. Midwest, Australia, and select Latin American markets. Yet a significant arbitrage opportunity sits just hours by ferry from European markets, offering substantial structural cost advantages compared with equivalent permanent crop operations in California’s […]

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Craig Wichner

Founder & Managing Partner, Farmland LP

Craig is the founder and Managing Partner of Farmland LP, a firm focused on investing and converting conventional farmland to organic and regenerative agriculture. Over the past 35 years, Craig has built his expertise in technology, as a real estate investor and entrepreneur. His formative years on a California farm ignited his passion for regenerative agriculture, leading him to launch Farmland LP in 2009 with a mission to demonstrate that regenerative agriculture is more profitable than commodity agriculture. His dedication to verifiable, data-driven sustainable practices has earned Farmland LP recognition as a sustainability leader, achieving the highest rating among 10,000+ global corporations by HIP Investor in 2021. Craig holds a B.S. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, with a minor in Economics, from the University of California, San Diego.

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Elizabeth Strom

Vice President, Murray Wise Associates LLC

Elizabeth Strom serves as the Vice President for Murray Wise Associates, LLC where she is responsible for farm management and real estate business development.  She has been committed to the farmland industry for 9 years and her experience has lent itself well in her role with marketing- especially with brokerage and auction sales.  She collaborates with farmers and landowners to meet and exceed their goals and financial objectives and continues to serve as an integral part of the firm with her solid background in farm management.  Prior to Murray Wise Associates, LLC she served as an Accredited Farm Manager and broker at Hertz Farm Management. Elizabeth was the 2024 President of the Illinois Chapter of the American Society of Farm Managers and Rural Appraisers.

Beyond her professional experience, Elizabeth’s passion for farm management and real estate dates back to her upbringing deeply rooted in agriculture.  She is from West Central Illinois where she grew up on a row crop farm.  She then went to Iowa State University where she earned a BS in Agriculture Business and  Agronomy, which laid the framework for her career in professional farm management and farmland real estate.

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Mark White

Head of Real Assets, Albourne Partners

Mark White is the Head of Real Assets and senior portfolio analyst for Real Asset strategies at Albourne Partners and is responsible for overseeing the due diligence and portfolio construction for Albourne’s RA clients including Infrastructure, Natural Resources, and Capital Assets. He derives his experience in Real Assets from two distinct career paths, the first in resource management and the second a career in institutional finance. A 14-year background in forestry and mining was followed by a career in institutional pension management in Canada with the NSAHO Pension Plan and a partner at Keel Capital developing due diligence and underwriting processes. Mark joined Albourne Partners, an independent specialist consultant focused on alternative investments, in 2008 to assist in developing the Real Asset practice. He currently leads a team of analyst, portfolio advisors, and data specialist focusing across the Real Asset spectrum.

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Tyler Shegerian

Co-Founder & Chief Operating Officer, PACT Capital

Tyler is the Co-Founder and Chief Operating Officer of PACT Capital, an investment management firm specializing in senior secured agriculture mortgage investments. His background spans agriculture and commercial and industrial sectors, shaped by his experience operating within the family’s diverse majority holdings.

As a fourth-generation entrepreneur and part of a vertically integrated grower, shipper, and marketing family agribusiness in California’s Central Valley, Tyler oversees PACT Capital’s operations, managing investor relations and is a key member of the firm’s investment committee. Since its establishment, PACT Capital has deployed over $2 billion in real estate capital and currently manages approximately $400 million in outstanding California agriculture mortgage investments. 

Tyler has led numerous investment initiatives on behalf of his family investments, where prior to founding PACT Capital included the creation of a new division that grew into a $30 million annual revenue center within just three years for the world largest electronic recycling business – ERI. 

Tyler holds a B.A. from Fordham University and a J.D. from UCLA School of Law, where he concentrated on the intersection of environmental and real estate law, with a particular focus on finance and water. His professional journey and passion for these fields were inspired by his formative experiences in his family’s farming and food processing businesses, which also served as the foundation for the creation of PACT Capital.

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Matías Guajardo

Portfolio Manager, Toesca Asset Management

Before joining Toesca, Mr. Guajardo became a partner at Siasa Consultores, a firm specializing in consulting and execution of agricultural projects. With more than 15 years of experience in the agricultural industry, he has held different positions from production officer to CEO of different agri-related companies. Mr. Guajardo is an Agricultural Engineer from the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, specializing in finance.

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Matt Gunderson

Senior Vice President, Farmers National Company

Matt currently is the Senior Vice President of Business Growth & Strategic Relations for Farmers National Company. He is responsible for overseeing the planning, development and execution of the business growth initiatives nationally across all twelve business lines.

He leads strategic relations and partnerships initiatives. Matt also works with the senior leadership team in implementing long range strategy, strategic plans and annual business plans. His responsibilities include oversight of the Consultation and Collateral Inspection Business Lines.

He formerly was the Senior Vice President of Strategy, Sales & Marketing, Vice President of Farm & Ranch Management and Assistant Vice President of Farm & Ranch Management at Farmers National Company. Division and started the Collateral Inspection business line.

Matt’s past experience includes serving as the Executive Vice President at the Knights of Ak-Sar-Ben Foundation. He also was the Executive Director of Ak-Sar-Ben’s River City Rodeo & Stock Show which at that time held the distinction of being the second largest PRCA Rodeo on a per performance basis and the nation’s largest 4-H only Stock Show. His duties included oversight management and strategic planning for the entire event. He has formally worked at South Dakota State University Cooperative Extension and University of Nevada-Reno Cooperative Extension.

Matt grew up on a farm outside of Yankton, South Dakota. He attended South Dakota State University (SDSU) where he was involved on the University’s Livestock Judging Team. He holds a degree in Animal Science, with an emphasis in business and production with minors in Agriculture Business and Marketing. He has completed Masters coursework in Educational Leadership.

Professionally, he is the Immediate Past Chair of the National Youth Livestock Contests Management Board of Directors, and the Douglas County Fair Advisory Board. He is a two-time winner of the Stalcup Excellence in Education Award from the American Society of Farm Managers & Rural Appraisers. He enjoys traveling and working on his family’s farm and livestock operation in his spare time. Matt is married with one daughter.

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Andrea Gruza

President & Managing Partner, Bonnefield Financial

Andrea Gruza is President and Managing Partner at Bonnefield Financial, a leading Canadian farmland and agribusiness investment manager. In her role, Andrea oversees Bonnefield activities across all business units, while having direct responsibility for driving fundraising, investor relations, and ESG activities. She is a member of Bonnefield’s farmland and agribusiness Investment Committees.

Andrea is a former investment banker with experience in mergers and acquisitions across multiple industry groups including agriculture, mining and financial institutions. Prior to investment banking, Andrea worked for Risk Management Solutions, the global leader in catastrophe risk modelling where she advised U.K., E.U., and Asian clients in the insurance and reinsurance industries. Andrea holds an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, and an MSc. In International Political Economy from the London School of Economics.

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Nate Kaehler

Director of Acquisitions & Renewable Energy, Ceres Partners

Nathan Kaehler is a senior member of the Ceres portfolio management team. He actively sources and diligences new acquisitions as well as manages the existing portfolio to enhance productivity and tenant relations. During his 12-year tenure with Ceres, he developed and currently leads the solar initiative which has grown to over 50,000 acres and spearheaded Ceres’ initiative to become a founding member of Leading Harvest and obtain certification of Ceres’ portfolio. He is also a member of Ceres’ Investment and Valuation Committees.

Prior to Ceres Partners, Nathan began his career as an Audit Associate at KPMG and grew up on a family beef cattle and crop farm in Southeastern Minnesota.  He holds a Master of Business Administration degree from UCLA Anderson School of Management and a B.S. in Finance and Accounting from Iowa State University.

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Jonathan Braams

Senior Principal, Infrastructure and Renewable Resources, Alberta Investment Management Corporation (AIMCo)

Jonathan Braams is a Senior Principal in the Infrastructure and Renewable Resources group at Alberta Investment Management Corporation (AIMCo), a global institutional investment firm with approximately C$160bn assets under management as of December 31, 2023. In this capacity, he is responsible for the management of current direct and fund investments and the analysis of new opportunities, specifically in the Timberland and Agriculture sectors. Prior to specializing in Timberland and Agriculture, Jonathan spent time working in AIMCo’s Client Relations and Private Equity teams. Jonathan holds the CBV and CFA designations and graduated from the University of Alberta with a Bachelor of Commerce degree.

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Sudhir Rani

Co-Founder & Chief Corporate Development Officer, Terviva

Sudhir Rani is an experienced executive and entrepreneur with a strong background in finance, corporate development, and strategy. ​Sudhir is a Co-founder and Chief Corporate Development Officer of Terviva, a food and agriculture technology company that is building the world’s most sustainable supply chain of plant protein and vegetable oil. In this role, Sudhir drives strategic initiatives and fosters growth through partnerships with multinational corporations and renewable energy companies. ​

Previously, Sudhir served as Terviva’s CFO for 11 years at Terviva where he successfully raised significant equity capital for Terviva, managed financial operations, and built strong relationships with growers and financial institutions.

Before founding Terviva, Sudhir gained valuable experience in private equity at D.E. Shaw & Co and in asset management and investment banking at UBS. ​ He holds an MBA from The Wharton School of Business and a BS in Industrial Engineering & Operations Research from Columbia University. 

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Jake Pawlowski

Partner, McKinsey & Company

Jake Pawlowski is a Partner in McKinsey’s Denver office. He is leader in the Firm’s Global Agriculture Practice and co-leads the Agriculture & Private Equity Joint Venture globally.

His work spans the entire agricultural value chain, with broad experience supporting seed and crop protection input manufacturers, ag retailers, ag equipment OEMs, precision agriculture OEMs, grain originators & traders, and institutional investors investing across the food & agriculture value chain. His functional expertise focuses on commercial, go-to-market, and growth strategy topics.

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Melanie Schaschl

Counsel, Sidley Austin

Melanie Schaschl’s practice focuses on counseling investment managers in the formation and offering of private equity funds across diverse strategies, including alternative asset, buyout, growth equity, real estate, energy, impact investing, private debt, and infrastructure investment programs.

Melanie has assisted clients in launching a broad array of investment structures. These range from co-investment vehicles, separately managed accounts, and funds-of-one to single asset funds, fund-of-funds, and real estate investment trusts.

She is fluent in Portuguese and has experience in international transactions, particularly in Latin America as a member of Sidley’s Latin America team. She represents both domestic and foreign managers pursuing cross-border investments.

Melanie advises sponsors throughout a fund’s life cycle, providing guidance on matters related to capital raising, investor negotiations, internal structuring, operations, compliance, exits, and windup. Her experience includes representing clients in connection with secondary transactions. 

Melanie has also worked with hedge fund and registered fund managers in fund formations, as well as institutional investors in their investments into private funds.

Sidley’s award-winning Investment Funds group provides top-tier service to all aspects of the private funds industry. Chambers USA has awarded the group top band rankings in Hedge Funds every year since 2008. Sidley has also been named “Law Firm of the Year” in Private Funds/Hedge Funds Law in U.S. News – Best Lawyers® “Best Law Firms” for 2022.

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Andrew Shoyer

Partner, Sidley Austin

Andrew Shoyer advises companies on compliance with sanctions administered by the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) and export controls and anti-boycott rules administered by the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS). He also focuses on the implementation and enforcement of international trade and investment agreements. Drawing on his experience at the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) and with the World Trade Organization (WTO), Andy advises companies, trade associations and governments on the use of WTO, USMCA and other treaty-based trade and investment rules to open markets and resolve disputes. He works extensively with manufacturers and service providers on WTO compliance in Asia and on protection of intellectual property in bilateral and regional free trade negotiations.

Andy spent seven years at USTR, serving most recently as legal adviser in the U.S. Mission to the WTO in Geneva. He was the principal negotiator for the United States of the rules implementing the WTO Dispute Settlement Understanding and has briefed and argued numerous WTO cases before dispute settlement panels and the WTO Appellate Body. Prior to his arrival in Geneva, Andy was assistant general counsel at USTR in Washington, D.C., where he served as principal legal counsel in the negotiation of the market access rules of the NAFTA, as well as the framework agreements with various Latin American countries. He also worked on numerous trade policy issues with the U.S. Congress and the economic agencies of the executive branch of the U.S. government.

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Rachael Gieseke

Partner, CPA, Moss Adams

Rachael has worked with closely held businesses and their owners since 2009. She provides tax, consulting, and planning services to clients in the food, agriculture, and manufacturing industries.

Rachael helps clients with federal and state tax compliance, tax-saving opportunities, entity restructuring, export tax planning, business acquisitions and dispositions, and business transition planning. She regularly speaks at food, agribusiness, and beverage industry events on tax reform and tax planning.

Professional Affiliations

  • Member, American Institute of Certified Public Accountants
  • Member, Washington Society of Certified Public Accountants

Education

  • BS, accounting, Washington State University
  • MST, taxation, Golden Gate University
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Rich Matheson

Director, Utah Retirement Systems

Rich currently serves as the Director of Real Estate, Timber, and Agriculture for Utah Retirement Systems (URS), located in Salt Lake City, Utah, for which he oversees strategy, research, acquisitions, and portfolio and asset management. Prior to joining URS, Rich worked as a Certified General appraiser handling complex commercial real estate investment valuations, a background which has proven valuable in Rich’s roles at URS.

With his passion for and extensive experience in agriculture investment, Rich has helped build URS’ Agriculture allocation from the ground up. This includes permanent crops, row crops, and water investments in a variety of structures such as direct investments, joint ventures, managed accounts, co-investments, and funds. He has extensive experience in asset underwriting and valuation, counter party negotiations, asset and investment due diligence, and asset and portfolio management. He enjoys problem solving and working with the rest of his equally-talented and experienced team.

Rich has a Bachelor of Science in Finance and a Master of Real Estate Development degree, as well as a Graduate Certificate in Urban Planning, all from the University of Utah. He is a past chair and active participant in the Farmland Committee of the National Council of Real Estate Institutional Fiduciaries (NCREIF). Rich was a 2014 John W. Koza Leadership Fellow at the Pension Real Estate Association (PREA), holds the Counselor of Real Estate (CRE) designation, and has received the Professional Certificate in Institutional Real Estate from NCREIF.

Most of all, Rich has a passion for and commitment to the mission of URS – to protect and improve the pension benefits for the hard-working public employees of the state of Utah.

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Martin Davies

Global Head, Nuveen Natural Capital

Martin is the Global Head of Nuveen Natural Capital, the land-based investment management division of Nuveen, and is responsible for $14B of farmland, timberland and nature repair investments, extending to more than 3 million acres in 11 countries globally.

His 30+ year career has included roles in corporate agriculture, consultancy and investment. Prior to joining Nuveen Natural Capital he ran a farmland investment strategy for Bank of New York Mellon’s asset management subsidiary Insight Investment.

After 13 years with the Cooperative Group Farms in the U.K., his lead into investing was 5 years spent working on agricultural investment projects for private investors in Eastern Europe.

An Agricultural graduate of the University of Reading, Martin was Chairman of the 2017 Oxford Farming Conference. He was a 2006 Nuffield Scholar and is a member of the Institute of Agricultural Management.

He is a Trustee of Nuffield International and a Board Member of the Private Sector Mechanism of the Committee for Food Security at the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) of the UN in Rome.

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Nick Schupbach

Managing Director, Ceres Partners

Nick Schupbach leads Ceres’ water resource investments via Appia Farms. His responsibilities include deal sourcing, financial modeling, industry and investment research, and managing a robust due diligence process. Prior to joining Ceres in November 2024, Nick co-founded Appia Capital Partners in 2023, a natural resource investor focused on the development of critical natural resources. Prior to Appia, Nick was the Head of Natural Resources for the Barings Private Equity / Real Assets (“PERA”) team, the successor firm to real asset investing pioneer Wood Creek Capital Management (“Wood Creek”). At Barings and Wood Creek, where Nick spent 17 years, Nick was responsible for sourcing and underwriting Natural Resources investments across water, farmland, timber and carbon sectors. Nick holds a B.S. in Finance and an M.S. in Global Financial Analysis from Bentley University, where he was a recipient of the Chancellor’s Scholarship. Nick is also a CFA charter holder and an Eagle Scout.

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Henry Glenn

Managing Director, Cypress Creek Partners

Henry Glenn is a Managing Director on the investment team at Cypress Creek Partners (“CCP”), a private strategies manager based in Austin, Texas, with over $500 million in assets under management. Prior to joining CCP, Henry spent five years on the investment team at the University of Texas/Texas A&M Investment Management Company (“UTIMCO”) covering both private equity and real assets. Prior to UTIMCO, Henry was an Associate on the investment team at Corrum Capital Management and Analyst on the private assets team at Morgan Creek Capital Management. Henry earned a BA from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and an MBA from the McCombs School of Business at the University of Texas at Austin.

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Jacob Carter

Co-Chief Investment Officer, Impact Ag Partners

Impact Ag Partners’ Co-Chief Investment Officer, Jacob leverages extensive experience in institutional agricultural investing to bring strategic vision and expertise to our portfolio of assets. Jacob’s leadership ensures effective sourcing, due diligence, negotiation, management and optimization of orchards, farms, and integrated agribusinesses, fostering long-term success and profitability.

 

Jacob has invested over $400M of equity capital into tree and row crop agribusinesses on behalf of endowments, foundations, and family offices. Jacob started his career in institutional asset management at Merrill Lynch. He earned his MSc from The London School of Economics & Political Science and his BS in Economics from BYU. His personal history is rooted in US agriculture on properties that his ancestors homesteaded in the West during the 1860s.

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Marc deBree

Managing Director, Head of Real Estate and Alternatives, TIAA General Account

Mr. deBree is Managing Director and Head of Real Estate and Alternatives for the TIAA General Account (GA) where he develops and directs investment strategy and oversees investment activity within the GA global, multi-asset class alternatives portfolio totaling over $60B. This diverse portfolio includes strategies allocated across real estate equity and commercial mortgages, private equity, agriculture, timber, energy and infrastructure.

Previously, Mr. deBree was part of the Real Estate Portfolio Management team at Nuveen, where he led acquisition and disposition activities for multiple accounts and developed investment management strategies for existing investments. He joined TIAA in 2007 and prior to his portfolio management roles, he sourced and underwrote new real estate investment opportunities in markets across the U.S. Before joining TIAA, Mr. deBree began his career as an Environmental Planner, advising private and public sector stakeholders on natural resource management initiatives.

Mr. deBree holds of Bachelor of Arts in Urban Studies from The College of Wooster, Ohio along with an MBA and Master of Regional Planning from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He is a Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst (CAIA) charter holder and serves as a Chapter Executive for the CAIA Carolinas Chapter.

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David Muth

Managing Director, Asset Management, Peoples Company

David Muth is the Managing Director for Peoples Company Capital Markets, the capital deployment affiliate for Peoples Company. David is an entrepreneur building businesses that focus on agriculture data service technologies, creating economic opportunities from sustainability and soil health focused management, and creating innovative land acquisition strategies that deliver improved investment returns.

David is trained as a mechanical engineer receiving his PhD from Iowa State University. He spent the first several years of his career building technologies in advanced biofuels in partnership with the US Department of Energy. In 2013 he co-founded AgSolver, Inc in Ames, IA, an agricultural data service start-up. David created and deployed a precision agriculture concept called Precision Business Planning that integrated vast data resources to deliver economically focused management strategies at the sub acre scale. Precision Business Planning strategies create a platform for simultaneously improving operating income, investor returns, and environmental performance outcomes. David is advising on multiple national scale efforts within USDA, commodity organizations, and large agribusinesses to deploy these strategies to economically improve conservation and soil health outcomes while providing net income benefits for land owners and operators.

David led the acquisition of AgSolver, Inc in 2017 by EFC Systems, Inc. an ag retail focused software and technology company. He continues to support the integration of AgSolver technology into EFC as the VP of Agronomic Planning and Sustainability. David maintains a daily presence in production agriculture through his farming operation that works with his family farming business where he grew up in North Central Iowa.

David is currently focused on building Peoples Company Capital Markets as a premier land investment firm creating maximum financial returns for investment partners. His experience in agriculture technology data services coupled with actively managing farming interests provide unique perspective that deliver investment arbitrage opportunities for Peoples Company Capital Markets’ clients. Peoples Company Capital Markets delivers direct ownership, separate account investing for their clients. David is leading Peoples Company Capital Markets to develop industry leading, technology driven analyses of land assets to build management strategies that deliver improved financial performance for investors and operators.

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Michael Stockburger

Head of U.S. Row Crops, Nuveen Natural Capital

Michael leads Nuveen Natural Capital’s row crop team in the United States, which is responsible for initiating new row crop investments as well as managing Nuveen Natural Capital’s current portfolio of over 100 individual properties totaling over 260,000 acres of tillable farmland.

Michael began his career in the financial services industry in 2001. Prior to joining Nuveen Natural Capital in 2016, he was an investment banker with Raymond James.

Michael graduated with a B.S. in Commerce from the McIntire School of Commerce at the University of Virginia and an M.B.A. from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.

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Jonah Kolb

President, Moore & Warner Ag Group, LLC

Jonah Kolb leads Moore & Warner Ag Group, an Illinois-based real estate and advisory firm where he works with private and institutional investors to build and exit direct farmland portfolios.  In addition to farm management and brokerage work, Jonah consults and speaks on a variety of topics related to farmland investing and the future of agriculture.  Jonah holds an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, a BA from Dartmouth College, and is an Accredited Farm Manager with real estate licenses in Illinois and Iowa.

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Brandon Zick

Chief Investment Officer, Ceres Partners, LLC

Brandon joined Ceres Partners in 2010. He is responsible for managing all investments at Ceres, including farmland and private equity strategies.  In this role he supervises valuation analysis, acquisition due diligence, tenant management and acquisition negotiations. Prior to joining Ceres, Mr. Zick served as Vice President of Strategic Acquisitions at Morgan Stanley Investment Management where he performed due diligence, valuation analysis, deal negotiation and execution of strategic business transactions. Brandon is a 2001 graduate of the University of Notre Dame with a B.B.A. in finance and is a Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst. Mr. Zick grew up on a family dairy farm in Northeastern Pennsylvania.

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Paul Benjamin

Director, BloombergNEF

Paul leads business development for BloombergNEF, with a focus on food, agriculture and nature. Previously, he led the firm’s commercial and growth efforts across multiple areas, ranging from industry and materials, power and utilities, and institutional investors and investment banks.

Prior to BNEF, Paul’s experience focused on business development and revenue growth for early-stage, high-growth businesses. Previous stints include Credit Suisse in their alternative risk arm and Deutsche Bank in Asia in technology investment banking.

Paul has a degree in Mathematics and Computer Science from the Indian Institute of Technology and an MBA from the Indian Institute of Management.

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Detlef Schoen

Chief Executive Officer, NewAg Partners

In 2019, Mr. Schoen stepped away from his role as Head of Real Assets at Insight Investment, a $1,100B AUM (2022) subsidiary of BNY Mellon, to launch NewAg as a regenerative farming and natural capital investment management firm.

With more than four decades of experience in farming and a multi-billion-dollar track record as a senior agribusiness executive, Detlef Schoen is one of few experts globally that combine experience and a successful track record all the way from hands on farming to international agribusiness and financial markets. He is highly respected for his track record and thought leadership in sustainable natural capital investment.

After his studies of agricultural economics, he joined Cargill where he had a fast-track career with stations as country manager, Cargill Germany, and product line manager of the European grain trading business. He left Cargill to set up his own grain origination company which he grew from a small local trader to a significant country merchant and the largest exporter of German quality wheat. Having exited from this business, he ran the global grain book for NIDERA, at the time the 6th largest grain trader worldwide. From NIDERA he moved to Aquila Capital to build a farm investment franchise which quickly became the largest foreign investor in New Zealand agriculture at the time.

Mr. Schoen and NewAg’s first and signature project has been New Columbia Fruit Packers, an agribusiness focused on farming, packing and marketing apples and cherries in the State of Washington, anchored by a major US financial institution with participation from leading institutional investors.

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Darren Siekman

VP Policy & Industry Strategy, Valley Irrigation

Darren serves Valley Irrigation as Vice President of Policy and Industry Strategy. In this role, Darren is responsible for driving growth through products and services, acquisitions, partnerships, and joint venture opportunities. Prior to his time at Valley, Darren served as Division President at Behlen Mfg. Co and DTN (Data Transmission Network), respectively.  He has also held volunteer leadership positions with Nebraska Farm Bureau Foundation,Bennington Public Schools, Bennington Community Foundation, and Maplewood Preschool. Darren holds a B.S. in Agriculture from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

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Kevin Schwartz

Chief Executive Officer, Managing Partner, Paine Schwartz Partners

Kevin Schwartz has been an investor in the food and agribusiness industry for more than two decades. Today he leads Paine Schwartz Partners as Chief Executive Officer and Managing Partner. He is further the Chairman of Paine Schwartz Partners’ Sustainability Committee driving a truly differentiated approach to sustainable food chain investing with material emphasis on the development of positive impacts.

Mr. Schwartz was raised in the town of Moline on the border of Illinois and Iowa, a region known for its agricultural activities and the headquarters of John Deere. His great grandparents were subsistence farmers in Iowa and his grandfather was an assemblyman at the John Deere tractor works in Des Moines after serving in the military. Kevin’s uncle and his father both spent their entire careers at John Deere. Having grown up with this family connection to such an important industry and witnessing personally both its challenges and opportunities, food and agribusiness captured Mr. Schwartz’s attention and has been his career focus ever since.

Mr. Schwartz began his career at Goldman Sachs in the late-1990s, where he worked alongside fellow Managing Partner and CIO Angelos Dassios, starting a professional partnership that has spanned 25 years. At Goldman Sachs, Mr. Schwartz worked on numerous transactions covering mergers, acquisitions, divestitures, public and private financings, and other corporate transactions within the Investment Banking Division. From there, Kevin moved into private equity working for two organizations, Fremont Partners and American Industrial Partners, before coming to the Predecessor Organization in 2001. Mr. Schwartz immediately made his mark on the firm by leading the first two deals in the agribusiness space, two critically important and technology rich seed companies named Seminis and Advanta. Having identified the opportunity to invest as a sector-focused expert in the fundamentally important and attractive agribusiness and food industry, Mr. Schwartz drove the transformation of the Predecessor Organization. Kevin emphasized proprietary primary research, proactive thesis development, deep domain expertise, operating excellence and business transformation capabilities, and the wisdom of direct sector leadership experience from a group of world-class industry executives, to develop the premier investment firm in the industry.

Mr. Schwartz is a board council member of the national non-profit Hope for the Warriors. Mr. Schwartz is a graduate of the University of Illinois (Bachelor of Science in Accountancy).

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Dave Chen

Chief Executive Officer, Equilibrium

Dave is co-founder and CEO of Equilibrium Capital Group which was founded nearly 17 years ago with the mission to build an institutional asset manager focused on sustainable infrastructure investment strategies that could make a positive impact on our climate challenges. Equilibrium invests in sustainable food & agriculture and carbon transition infrastructure. With offices in San Francisco, Portland, and London, the firm serves a global group of institutional investors.

Dave started his career at Solectron and at McKinsey. He served as Chairman of the Portland Oregon Branch of the San Francisco Federal Reserve Bank 2005-2012. He was a general partner of OVP Venture Partners and a co-founder of GeoTrust (acquired by VeriSign).  He was a board member of HNCS (NASDAQ) 1999-2002, the pioneer in applying neural net technology to deliver application software for real time credit card fraud detection for the banking sector and in healthcare insurance fraud detection, later merged with FICO (NASDAQ:HNCS, now NYSE:FIC). For the past 15 years, he has also been an Adjunct Professor of Finance at the Kellogg School Management at Northwestern University and Director of the Kellogg Impact Investing Program. 

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Roberto Vitón

Managing Director, Valoral Advisors

Roberto Vitón is the Managing Director of Valoral Advisors, an internationally recognized advisory Firm based in Luxembourg and Argentina that specializes in the global food and agriculture investment space.

Since he founded the Firm in 2010, Roberto has advised a wide array of institutional investors and Family Offices to deploy capital across the whole asset spectrum and capital structure, including farmland, row crops and permanent crops, private equity opportunities across the food and ag value chain, VC and structured finance. The Firm’s focus geographies are Latin America, North America and Europe. He also oversees a family-owned farming business in South America.

Roberto has over 20 years of experience investing and advising in food and agriculture assets. Earlier in his career Roberto worked in business development and corporate strategy roles in the metals and mining industry in South America, North America, Middle East & Europe and as a management consultant with McKinsey & Co.

Roberto holds a B.A. in Economics from Universidad de San Andrés and a Masters in Finance from Universidad CEMA both in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

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Bruce King

Head of New Agriculture

Bruce is responsible for the overall strategy and direction of New Agriculture. He leads the New Agriculture team with the aim of building the business to become one of the leading agriculture managers in Australia and New Zealand. Bruce brings close to 20 years’ leadership and investment experience in the agriculture sector. He was most recently Chief Executive Officer of Regional Investment Corporation in Australia, responsible for overseeing AUD 3 billion in financing for a range of investments in the sector. Prior to that role, Bruce was an investment manager for Blue Sky Alternative Investments and spent 13 years at Rabobank International in a variety of roles including Head of Agribusiness Risk and Treasury Management, and Head of Rural Treasury Sales. He has a Bachelor of Agricultural Economics from the University of Queensland, and a Master of Business Administration from the University of Melbourne.

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Jackson Takach

Chief Economist & Vice President of Strategy, Research & Analytics, Farmer Mac

Jackson Takach, the Chief Economist and Vice President of Strategy, Research, and Analytics at Farmer Mac, is a Kentucky native whose strong ties to agriculture began while growing up in the rural town of Scottsville. He joined the Farmer Mac team in 2005 and has worked in the strategy, research, credit, and underwriting departments. Jackson is a lead author and creator of The Feed, Farmer Mac’s publication on ag and the rural economy, and he regularly presents to lenders, producers, and industry experts throughout the year. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in economics from Centre College, a Master’s degree in agricultural economics from Purdue University, a Master’s in Business Administration, and a Master’s degree in finance from Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business. He has also been a CFA charterholder since 2012 and currently sits on the board of AgAnalytics and AcreValue.

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Bruce J. Sherrick, Ph.D.

Marjorie and Jerry Fruin Professor of Land Economics, & Director of the TIAA Center for Farmland Research in the Department of Agricultural and Consumer Economics, University of Illinois

Dr. Bruce J. Sherrick, is the Marjorie and Jerry Fruin Professor of Land Economics, and Director of the TIAA Center for Farmland Research in the Department of Agricultural and Consumer Economics at the University of Illinois.   He also serves on the Board of Leading Harvest, and a variety of financial service company boards and advisory boards.  He was nominated by the President and Confirmed by the Senate to serve on the Board of the Federal Agricultural Mortgage Association, or Farmer Mac where he served as chair of Audit through 2020.  Dr. Sherrick teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in applied finance, and financial modeling. He has been recognized on the List of Teachers Ranked as Excellent 19 times and has won Outstanding Teaching awards in both his College and Department, as well as the Hughes Teaching Enhancement Award at the University of Illinois, and the College of Agricultural, Consumer, and Environmental Sciences Paul A. Funk Excellence Award.

Dr. Sherrick’s research is concentrated in the areas of farmland values, market structure, risk analysis, crop insurance evaluation, and performance, and modeling of risk for financial institutions. He is also one of the faculty members who have created and maintain programs at the farmdoc and farmdocdaily websites, the multiple award winning agricultural decision making support program at the University of Illinois (http://www.farmdocdaily.illinois.edu/).

Dr. Sherrick earned his Ph.D. from The Ohio State University with subject matter fields in Finance and Marketing.  Dr. Sherrick is also managing partner of integrated Financial Analytics & Research (iFAR), a consulting firm in Champaign that specializes in developing private market insurance models, credit risk assessment, and modeling of agricultural finance institutions, and is also an author/coauthor of the FAST (Financial Analysis and Solution Tools) suite of decision tools supporting agricultural producers and lenders.

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Brandon Morris

Agent, Schuil Ag Real Estate

Brandon Morris is agricultural real estate agent based in Bakersfield, CA. He graduated from the University of California, at Davis with a Bachelor of Science in Plant Science and began farming with his family in 2013 where he has responsibility over almond, pistachio and row crop plantings. 

Brandon joined Schuil Ag Real Estate in 2015, specializing in permanent crop property sales. Brandon has represented institutional investors, family farmers and allocators new to the agricultural industry. He has worked on a wide variety of transactions, notably distressed situations and properties with unique water assets.  

Brandon is engaged in California water policy and is a director of Southern San Joaquin Municipal Utility District, a Friant Division contractor of the Central Valley Project along with its Groundwater Sustainability Agency, North Central Kern. 

Brandon resides in Bakersfield, California with his wife and two young children. He enjoys playing tennis and reading in his spare time. 

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David Martin

Managing Director, US Agriculture

David Martin is the Managing Director of US Agriculture, LLC, where he oversees all strategic and operational aspects of the firm. He also serves as a member of its Board of Managers and as Chairman of the Investment Committee. In this role, he leads the company’s farmland investments and growth strategy, leveraging his extensive expertise in agricultural management and institutional investing. With over 25 years of experience in production agriculture and agribusinesses, David has executed agriculture transactions collectively valued at more than $2 billion. His broad experience includes farmland acquisitions, operational management, and investment structuring, establishing him as a leader in the agricultural sector. Before joining the firm, David served as Vice President at Halderman Real Asset Management, where he managed the institutional farmland investment program and oversaw select separate accounts, ensuring optimal performance and providing tailored strategies to clients. Prior to that, he was the Special Accounts Manager at Halderman Farm Management Service, where he coordinated the management of multiple farmland funds. David holds a Bachelor of Arts in Agricultural Economics from Purdue University and is a member of the American Society of Farm Managers and Rural Appraisers, as well as the Pension Real Estate Association. Raised on a livestock and grain farm in central Indiana, David remains actively involved in family-related agriculture investments, maintaining a strong connection to his farming roots.

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Gastón Marquevich

Founder & CEO, Optimum Agriculture | Partner, Trifolium Farms

Founder and CEO of Optimum Agriculture, a global asset manager specializing in agriculture investment. With over 20 years of experience, Gastón has led transformative projects in regenerative farming across the United States, Europe, and Latin America. He is also a partner at Trifolium Farms and is deeply committed to building natural capital through agriculture. 

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Stavros Koutsantonis

Chief Operating Officer, Conservation Resources

Stavros Koutsantonis is the Chief Operating Officer of Conservation Resources and serves as Managing Director of the firm’s agriculture investment business. He joined Conservation Resources in 2017 from Brookfield Asset Management, where he managed investments in global real asset sectors, focusing on agriculture. Prior to that, Stavros held senior investment roles focusing on agriculture and other real asset investments with Millennium Partners and Fidelity Investments. He holds a BA in Economics from Yale University and an MBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. Stavros is a CFA charter holder and member of the CFA Institute and CFA Society Boston.

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Ejnar Knudsen

Founder & CEO, AGR Partners

AGR Partners is a specialist food and agribusiness investor that provides long-term capital to grow industry leaders. The firm can provide common equity, preferred equity, or subordinated debt in amounts ranging from $10 million to $150 million.  The funds can be used for acquisitions, to strengthen balance sheets, for large capex projects, dividends, or to assist active managers in buying out non-active owners and increasing their respective ownership percentage. Over the last 12 years, AGR Partners has provided seventeen companies with over $700 million in growth capital.  www.agrpartners.com

Ejnar is AGR’s founder and Chief Executive Officer and oversees the firm’s investment strategy. He serves on the boards of several AGR portfolio companies.

Prior to founding AGR, Ejnar served as executive vice president of Western Milling, a grain and feed milling company that grew from a single site in Goshen, CA to over $2 billion in sales and is now the largest animal feed company in the Western United States. He also spent 10 years with Rabobank, in its New York office, managing a loan portfolio and venture capital investments as well as providing corporate advisory services.

Ejnar’s first job was on his family’s dairy farm.  He received his B.S. from Cornell University and is a CFA Charter holder.

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Aaron Houlihan

Senior Portfolio Manager, Alternatives, Public Employees’ Retirement Association of Colorado (“Colorado PERA”)

Aaron Houlihan advises on investment strategy and leads research and due diligence efforts across COPERA’s Alternatives investment programs, which currently include real assets, private credit, opportunistic investments, and hedge funds. Real Assets sub-strategies include infrastructure, agriculture (primarily permanent crop farmland), timberland, livestock, maritime strategies, core capital assets, and intellectual property.

Mr. Houlihan joined PERA in July 2017 after working as a Manager of Investments at Catholic Health Initiatives, where he was responsible for investment strategy, risk management, and portfolio construction. Prior to CHI, he held public markets and real assets investment roles at CenturyLink Investment Management and the University of California. He began his investment career in real estate consulting. Overall, he has more than 23 years of investment experience and 27 years of professional experience.

Aaron earned an MBA with a finance concentration from the University of San Francisco and holds a BA in English from the University of Michigan. He has earned the right to use both the Chartered Financial Analyst and Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst designations and is a member of the CFA Institute, the CFA Society of Colorado, and the CAIA Institute.

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Kenny Fahey

President & CEO, Leading Harvest

Appointed as the inaugural President and CEO of Leading Harvest, Kenny leads the program and its team to improve sustainability outcomes and create transparency in agriculture globally. Under Kenny’s leadership, Leading Harvest has expanded its footprint to millions of acres of farmland across multiple countries to build a truly global response to market demands for sustainability assurance.

 Prior to joining Leading Harvest, Kenny served as Working Lands Principal at The Conservation Fund where he launched new initiatives and raised capital for investments in working lands conservation, both forestry and farmland. Kenny holds a B.A. from Bowdoin College and an MBA and MS from University of Michigan. He lives in Seattle, Washington.

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Cody Dahl

Vice President, AgIS Capital

Cody is responsible for acquisitions and private equity investing. He also researches agriculture markets to develop investment theses and devises and implements investment strategies. Having researched an extensive number of commodities and supply chains throughout his career, Cody has an exceptional knowledge and understanding of how the global economy impacts local agriculture investments. His background also provides him with a unique ability to identify perverse incentives throughout supply chains, which is essential to mitigating risk and aligning interests. He previously worked for the Hancock Agricultural Investment Group where he led their research function.

Cody holds a B.S. in Agribusiness, Farm and Financial Management from the University of Illinois and a M.S. and Ph.D. in Food and Resource Economics from the University of Florida.

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Andy Cook

Investment Analyst, Vermont Pension Investment Commission (VPIC)

Andy Cook is an Investment Analyst working on a team of 4 staff members supporting the Vermont Pension Investment Commission (VPIC) based in Montpelier, VT.   The VPIC oversees approximately $6.5B of pension assets for Vermont’s retired state employees, teachers, and municipal employees.   Andy focuses his efforts on VPIC’s public & private equity and farmland portfolios, both monitoring existing investments and evaluating new investment opportunities.   Before joining the VPIC Andy spent 8 years managing a small retail insurance and financial services office.  He graduated from St. Lawrence University with a BA in Economics and a minor in Government.  Andy lives in Waitsfield, VT with his wife and two young daughters.  In his free time he enjoys skiing, cycling, fishing, and teaching adaptive ski lessons for individuals with disabilities. 

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Chris Chard

General Partner & Managing Director, Sower Farmland

Chris brings over 25 years of experience in the investment industry. His background involves working in investor relations and fund raising with Family Offices, High Net Worth Individuals, Pension Plans, Endowments and Foundations. As a General Partner at Sower, Chris believes the foundation of the firm’s success is built by putting the client’s interests first. As a founder of Sower Farmland Chris is a firm believer in the asset of Farmland and has been buying it and owning it as an investment for several decades. Chris graduated from the University of San Francisco with a BS in Business Marketing and an MBA with a concentration in finance. When Chris is not working, he and his wife, Aimee, enjoy raising their four children in rural Wisconsin.