The Ultimate Hard Asset: American Farmland and The 300-Year Water Supply Hidden Underneath It

Why It Matters

Farmland’s low correlation with traditional markets and its embedded water and renewable‑energy rights give investors a durable hedge against inflation, supply‑chain shocks, and climate risk, reshaping real‑asset allocation strategies.

Key Takeaways

• Institutional farmland yields mid‑teen returns, beating S&P 500
• Farmland shows low or negative correlation with equities and Treasuries
• Water rights and scarcity will become major valuation drivers in the Midsouth
• Aging farmer demographics create opportunities for institutional ownership and partnerships
• Renewable energy and mineral rights add supplemental cash flow to farmland assets

Summary

The episode of “Other People’s Money” spotlights American farmland as the ultimate hard asset, featuring Chris Morris, president of Landfund Partners, an institutional investor managing over $400 million of irrigated row‑crop land in the U.S. Midsouth. Morris explains why water‑rich farmland is a strategic hedge against supply‑chain disruptions, geopolitical risk, and fiat‑currency debasement.

Morris notes that the sector delivers mid‑teen net returns and has outperformed the S&P 500 since the Evergreen fund’s launch in 2021. He emphasizes farmland’s exceptionally low correlation with equities, the Nasdaq, and even 10‑year Treasury yields, positioning it as a true diversifier within real‑asset portfolios.

He cites the aging farmer population—average age 59—and the looming succession wave as a catalyst for institutional ownership. A recent UN report that more than six billion people face water stress underscores the premium on water rights, while data‑center expansion and renewable‑energy leases are creating new cash‑flow overlays on traditional farm rents.

For investors, the message is clear: farmland combines tangible food production, secure water access, and ancillary revenue streams, making it a resilient, inflation‑hedging asset in an era of climate uncertainty and macro‑economic volatility.

Original Description

Learn more about Teucrium’s Soybean ETF (SOYB) here: https://teucrium.com/soyb

In this episode of Other People's Money, Max sits down with Chris Morris, President of LandFund Partners, to explore why they believe U.S. row crop farmland is the ultimate hard asset. Chris details how farmland performed as a portfolio diversifier during the Great Financial Crisis and explains why the relative value compared to other regions and essentially free access to 300-years of groundwater has them focusing on the U.S. Mid-South region. He highlights global water scarcity, food security, and inflation as macro drivers for this farmland, but he also argues that rising values and yields from technological improvements and increased demand for non-farming purposes like solar power are how they have delivered S&P 500 beating net returns since 2021.

LandFund Partners website: https://www.landfundpartners.com/

Follow LandFund Partners on X: https://x.com/LandFundLP

Follow Max on X: https://x.com/maxwiethe

Follow Other People’s Money on:

Apple Podcast https://bit.ly/4e7QJ1M

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X https://x.com/opmpod

Timestamps:

00:00 Intro

00:40 Teucrium SOYB

01:00 Investing in Farmland

04:26 Diversification and Correlation

06:07 Real Assets and New Macro Risks

09:13 Scarcity and Water Thesis

10:48 Protein Demand Multiplier

12:45 How Farmland Returns Work

15:00 AI and Renewable Energy

15:41 Teucrium SOYB

17:02 Community Impact and Ethics

20:21 Who Buys Farmland?

22:47 Why the Mid-South

26:33 Valuation Gap Explained

28:25 Water Rights and Water Scarcity

35:06 Solar Leases Beat Crops

39:23 AI Boosts Farm Profits

42:22 Regenerative Farming and the Three Fs

44:35 Iran Conflict Inputs and Crops

48:26 Subsidies and Rent Security

54:02 Fund Focus and Growth Plans

57:30 Conclusion