farms

There is a new financial product on the horizon called Natural Asset Companies (NAC's). These will be started by groups of wealthy investors who will buy natural assets and hold the rights to manage these assets. They could be things like forest, wetland, coral reefs and farms. In time they would expand into other assets. They will be sold to the public using much the same approach that environmental companies use in that they will be protecting the earth but detractors say these groups want to own the earth. Take one example. In time these wealthy individuals will slowly buy up all the farm land which would lead to a monopoly on the food supply. Today, the USDA estimates that 30% of American farmland is owned by non-operators who lease it out to farmers. The medium age for the American farmer is 55 and in the next five years some 92 million acres will change hands with much of it passing to investors rather than traditional farmers. The children of farmers do not want to stay on the farm so the land will be sold to corporations. These NAC's will be offered on the New York stock exchange in the form of Initial Public Offerings (IPO's) but a hand full of investors will maintain control. By monopolizing the food supply they can raise prices and pay dividends to their investors while maintaining control.