The National Farmers Union is launching a $25 million investment fund that will back startup agtech and automation companies and give farmers the opportunity to earn equity by testing new technologies on their operations.
The organization unveiled its new Farmers Capital Fund, which it will operate in partnership with the Illinois-based investment firm Open Prairie, at its annual convention in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
The fund will weigh investments based on "economic sustainability, productivity and profitability, with an emphasis on solutions that reduce input costs, improve resource efficiency, and expand market access for farmers."
Farmers may be able to access additional stock in these companies by participating and collaborating in research or advancement efforts. For instance, if they were to test a biologic created by a company with support from the fund, they might receive $5,000 of stock as compensation for applying it to 10 of their acres, Jim Schultz, Open Prairie's managing partner, told reporters at a press conference.
"If a farmer ... partners with us and puts that technology to work on their farm or ranch, we're going to give them some equity upside by carving out these negotiated additional shares that we get in deals that we do," Schultz said.
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NFU President Rob Larew told reporters that Farmers Union has long been interested in ways to incubate new innovations in agriculture. "This, to me, feels like one of the answers to that," he said.
The organization's interest in supporting new ventures is not new. Some of its state-level affiliates have stood up their own businesses. The North Dakota Farmers Union, for instance, owns multiple restaurants in Washington D.C., while the Montana Farmers Union owns a USDA-inspected meat processing facility.
"This is part of an ongoing effort ... to make sure that we are continually investing back into our communities, investing back into our members in ways that are going to improve their operations," Larew said.
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