MWA Nearly Doubles its Farmland Management Portfolio, Eclipses 40,000 Acres

By: Murray Wise Associates via Business Wire

February 15, 2024 at 07:10 AM EST

Murray Wise Associates (MWA) announced today that it has added approximately 19,200 acres under the company’s farmland management portfolio in the past four months, bringing the total acres managed to more than 40,000 across 10 states.

MWA President Eric Sarff said growing the firm’s management business has been a point of emphasis over the past several months.

“There are companies out there that manage more acres than MWA, but we believe that our team’s experience, attention to detail, and client service give us an advantage in the marketplace, which is why we’re working hard to grow in this area,” Sarff said.

MWA manages farmland for a variety of clients, ranging from individuals who own a single farm to institutional asset managers with large farmland portfolios.

“We’re going to continue working to expand the number of acres we manage,” Sarff added, “because it provides a recurring, diversified revenue stream for the company, and we believe it can lead to future opportunities for our core brokerage and auction business.”

Among the farm management services MWA provides its clients: negotiating and securing leases; regularly visiting farms and interacting with tenants; overseeing necessary maintenance; preparing business plans, estimates, and financial statements for the property; assisting with commodity marketing; leveraging buying power to help lower farm input costs; and providing on-farm technical assistance as needed. In addition, MWA can support its management clients with brokerage services, either expanding their farmland holdings or selling properties.

MWA’s management portfolio currently includes farms in Colorado, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, Ohio, and South Carolina. Illinois and Iowa account for the most acres managed by MWA with more than 10,000 acres each.

MWA, which is headquartered in Champaign and has a satellite office in Clarion, Iowa, is a leading national agricultural real estate auction and brokerage company. MWA was acquired by Farmland Partners Inc. (NYSE: FPI) in November 2021. Additional information: www.murraywiseassociates.com or (800) 607-6888.

Forward-Looking Statements

This communication includes "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the federal securities laws, including, without limitation, statements with respect to the outlook of Farmland Partners Inc. ("FPI") and Murray Wise Associates LLC ("MWA") and proposed and pending farmland auction, brokerage, financing and asset management activities. Forward-looking statements generally can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "may," "should," "could," "would," "predicts," "potential," "continue," "expects," "anticipates," "future," "intends," "plans," "believes," "estimates" or similar expressions or their negatives, as well as statements in future tense. Although FPI and MWA believe that the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are based upon reasonable assumptions, beliefs and expectations, such forward-looking statements are not predictions of future events or guarantees of future performance and actual results could differ materially from those set forth in the forward-looking statements. Any forward-looking information presented herein is made only as of the date of this communication, and FPI and MWA do not undertake any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking information to reflect changes in assumptions, the occurrence of unanticipated events, or otherwise.