First-of-its-kind farmland equity financing platform is growing after a successful launch year to meet farmer demand MINNEAPOLIS and ST. PAUL, Minn. , Aug.
27, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Fractal, a US-based company helping to solve a key gap in farmer financing, has announced an expansion of their farmland co-investment product. Fractal has raised more than $15MM of capital and has deployed $8MM to leading farmers across the Midwest. This expansion comes at a time when American farmers are facing some of the greatest strains since the 1980s with rapidly falling farm income, shrinking cash reserves, and higher interest rates.
The USDA projects net farm income and working capital will fall by 37% and 21% from 2022 levels1 while interest rates on farm loans reach up to 8-9%2. Despite this, farm competition is increasing with continued farm consolidation and the threat of outside investors waiting to take advantage of lower land values. "We've seen one of the largest declines in working capital and farm incomes over the past year that I've seen in my 30+ years in agriculture," says Chris Barron , a 4th generation farmer in Iowa and farm financial consultant with Ag View Solutions.
"Rates are higher and banks aren't lending as much so this doesn't look like 2014. This also presents a unique opportunity for the best positioned farmers to make strategic investments with lower competition." Fractal helps family farms access capital they need to invest in business critical opportunities.
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